Yo-yo round-up the third

A much better week in the Chumps League for Bundesliga clubs. First up, Schalke kept another clean sheet which is no mean feat with Manuel Neuer in goal. The goalless draw against a poor Valencia side sets up a play off for second place in Group B at home to Rosenborg. I'm not sure how many people would have predicted that.

Stuttgart are out thanks to their woeful start to Group E. But their domestic upturn was carried over into European competition with a ding dong 3-2 win over Rangers.

Bremen cashed in on Real Madrid's terrible record in Germany. Werder were 3-1 up against the Spanish champions thanks to goals from Rosenberg, Hunt and Sanogo. Van Nistelrooy pegged it back to 3-2 but the home side hung on. I bet the atmosphere was jumping at the Wesserstadion. A win at Olympiakos will see Bremen through fom Group C. Not bad for a team without Diego and Frings. On paper that looks unlikely but I reckon its worth a punt on an away win.

So all in all, two teams from three could go through to the next round. Again, who here would have said that at the start of the campaign?

A tale of two draws in the UEFA Cup. Nurnberg secured a 2-2 draw at newly crowned Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg which is a decent result. Bayern drew 1-1 at Braga. Klose scored for the Munich club.

Finally, Hamburg impressed with a 3-0 tonking of Rennes. Van der Vaart got the hoop-la going with yet another goal. What will they do without him?

Week Fourteen: Series link

Right well, since I managed to convince my VCR that it is two weeks ago, I have not been able to watch any highlights from last week. Unless you count about half an hour of Wolfsburg's 2-1 defeat at Munich at three o'clock last Saturday morning before passing out in a drunken stupor. I saw enough to know that Franck had yet another corker.

Either way, I'm pretty certain that one hour's worth of top notch Bundesliga isn't going to transform me into a razor sharp German football blogger from the shameless bluffer that you read before you. Besides, the half way point in the week is upon us and times a wasting.

Bayern's timely victory against Felix Magath's team maintains their position at the top. Skulking in second and third but only one point behind are Werder and Hamburg respectively. Both clubs faced sides handily placed at the bottom. Hamburg saw off Rostock with two goals from Olic and van der Vaart. Bremen did not suffer for their self imposed suspension of Boubacar Sanogo and Carlos Alberto for the fisticuffs at dawn on the training pitch. They knocked over Cottbus by the same score.

Karlsruhe stay fourth after a 2-1 home win over HSC. Sod's Law states that their trip to Cottbus will end in defeat. Thomah Hajnal has four goals from midfield and has to be well placed in the Most Likely To be Signed By Bayern Next Season Liga.

Leverkusen are the top dogs of the Ruhr in fifth after their 4-1 (gerd)mullering of local rivals the hapless Duisberg. Theofanis Gekas score his seventh goal of the season. Last season's Bundesliga top scorer is finding his rhythm nicely. He needs a haircut though. Gekas' old club Bochum are trundling along nicely after dispatching Bielefeld 3-0.

Schalke's season could best be described as patchy yes? I thought they were unlucky against a poor Chelsea team last time out in the Chump's League and for some reason they haven't really clicked this campaign. They won last weekend though. 3-2 against Hannover. Their bitter rivals Dortmund are heading for the pooh-cart. They lost 2-0 at Nurnberg, the one team who have even less to crow about than they do. Rubbish. Thomas Doll will be tugging at his collar methinks.

Finally, the Champions: Their revival is complete. Stuttgart travelled to Frankfurt with a song in their hearts and left with four goals and three points. They followed that up with their first win in the Chump's league. Albeit against a Scottish Team. Yes yes I know I'm not one to gloat being English. I'm sorry, but schadenfreude is all I've got left.

That's it. Results and tables below. Goals here.

Looking ahead: Week 14

Its been a while because of the international break. I have no beef with the German national side personally but, as an Englishman, I've been too preoccupied to think about other nations. I do intend to blog during the summer when Euro 2008 starts and believe it will be a fantastic tournament.

Anyhoo, by way of a preview to this weekend's action, here is a bit of news.

Karlsruhe played Hertha in the live Friday game last night and beat them 2-1. Thomas Hajnal and Seb Reis scoring for fourth placed Karlsruhe. The newly promoted side are closer to Bayern in first than they are Leverkusen in fifth. Mind you, they've played a game more than everyone else.

Bremen will be without Boubacar Sanogo and Carlos Alberto after the two of them had a ruck on the training ground. Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf has told them to go away and think about what they've done for three days. Fortunately, the pair will only miss the encounter with bottom club Cottbus and with the injury problems Schaaf has, he has a ready made excuse should they lose.

The pick of the weekend's matches must be Magath's return to Bayern who will be under severe pressure to put him and his Wolfsburg team in its place. Setanta UK were threatening to show that game this afternoon. Mind you, according to their schedule changes they will probably end up showing ICC Cricket or another boxing repeat. James Richardson said it was on and I believe him.

Week Thirteen: Bayern Lose!

No doubt there are plenty of people out there (some of which may be reading this) who dislike Stuttgart. Karlsruhe fans instantly spring to mind. But a League who's champions don't play like champions is a poor league and it is for that reason that this correspondent is delighted to see Stuttgart back in business.

Their return to form was crowned by a fantastic win over Bayern who's lead, which many thought was unassailable has been cut to one point. Mario Gomez and Yildray Basturk scored the goals to make it 3-0 at half time. Toni scored a consolation and Bayern spent the last 20 minutes with 10 men.

Bayern have only won once in the last four games and that was in the German Cup against 2 Bundesliga team 'Gladbach. Perhaps the writing has been on the wall for the League leaders. So when Ribery was taken off early against Bolton in the UEFA Cup, Hitzfeld had been reading very carefully. I'm sure that by the time you read this, much will have been made of Munich's fatigue after having played a tough game only two days earlier and how unfair it is for teams playing in the UEFA cup to play the following Saturday. Smart people though will look deeper and for Bayern... well its still early days so lets not get carried away about anything right now.

Had Hamburg won, they would have gone top. However, they faced a tough trip Schalke who are embiggened after their decent showing against Chelsea last week. 1-1 was the final score. Bremen are behind Hamburg on goal difference only, after a 4-0 (gerd)mullering of Karlsruhe. Diego scored twice, Almeida and Naldo finished the job. Definitely a good day to be a Swabian.

Karlsruhe are still fourth though thanks to Hannover's defeat at HSC. Borussia Dortmund stayed out of trouble with a 1-1 draw with Frankfurt. Wolfsburg and Leverkusen met on Sunday for a battle of the mid table hum drum goodness me is that the time well I really must be off encounter. What's that? The result? 2-1 to Leverkusen, the excellent Stefan Kiesling with the winner.

At the wrong end, things are getting worse for Nurnberg. Their UEFA Cup home defeat to Everton was nothing compared to losing a six pointer at Bielefeld. 3-1 was the final score. Cottbus had a ding dong at Rostock and came out more dong than ding as they lost 3-2. Enrico Kern scored a hat trick for the home side giving Hansa clear air between them and the bottom three.

On Friday, Bochum travelled to the MSV Arena to meet Duisberg and it was an eye-bleedingly poor game. Bochum took the points with a 2-0 win. Duisberg are 2nd bottom and should look no further for the cause of their problems than centre half Roque Junior who amused thousands when he performed his comedy turns for Leeds United back in 2003. How on Earth does that man stay in work?

That's it. Results and tables here. Goals here.

For further reading, check out Uli Hesse Lichtenburger's article on the return of Kirch and the state of German club football. Should it go down the corporate route in order to compete with the top leagues?

Yo-yo round-up the second

So begins our second look at German clubs in Europe and for the Champion's League it make for pretty grim reading.

Stuttgart - A spirited display against Lyon still does not detract from the total absence of points in their group. A dismal campaign reflecting their season so far. The return of some key players from injury will, I think, make for a better second half of the season. Of course, it will be all over by then.

Schalke - Pretty much out of it too although they were very unlucky against Chelsea. Lovencranz should have scored. The Royal Blues are only 3 points behind over-achieving Rosenburg and they have still to play them again. Schalke have a chance.

Werder Bremen - Simply abject. Defeat at Lazio and bottom of the group. Recently the first team to lose at home to Olympiakos since AD60. Heroic victories against Real and at Olympiakos will see them finish on nine points so you never know but...

It's still early days in the UEFA Cup groups stages but two clubs faced English opposition on Thursday.

Bayern came from a goal down against Bolton at the Allianz to go 2-1 up thanks to Franck Ribery. Then Hitzfeld took him off during the second half and Bolton equlaised late on. There is a lesson there somewhere. It was a cracking game though.

Nurnberg faced Everton at the Easycredit Stadion and fell to two late goals from the Tescomen. Still, I suppose the UEFA Cup is the least of Nurnberg's worries.

Meanwhile, Leverkusen went to Moscow and were beaten by Spartak 2-1. Mozart scored the winner. I'll leave you to insert your own appaling pun.

Week Twelve: Five go bonkers in Bochum

There were two reasons why I took down that poll about how rubbish Stuttgart are: First because only two buggers voted, me being one of them and second because I had this sneaking suspicion following last week's win that they might have turned a corner.

So now, two wins and six points later they are nicely poised in mid table to mount a challenge on... ooh lets say Karlsruhe. The Champion's 1-0 away win against the hapless Nurnberg will have eased the tension among Armin Vey's team and set them up nicely for their Chump's League tussle at Lyon this Wednesday. Worth a punt on an away win? No me neither.

Speaking of Karlsruhe, up they popped into fourth after squeaking a 1-0 win at home to Duisberg. Mario Eggiman let one go in the Duisberg box which lingered long enough for Edmund Kapllani to miss a penalty.

All of which is mildly cool and exciting, but not as cool and exciting as bottom club Cottbuss who registered their first win of the season and it was in front of their own fans to boot. Schalke were the unfortunate victims falling 1-0 to a Bassila volley. Shame.

Even more exciting is Bayern who dropped two points again. This time at the Allianz Arena. Frankurt were the beneficiaries of Munich's profligacy. Apparently Bayern had 567 chances on goal and still couldn't find the net. Werder Bremen and Hamburg both capitalized with 1-0 and 2-1 wins over Berlin and Rostock respectively. The gap is two points now.

Elsewhere, Hannover took fifth spot following a decent three points against BVB. The not-so admirable Bielefeld's problems deepened further when they received a 4-0 (gerd) mullering at Leverkusen . Gekas and Barberez each bagged a brace.

That leaves us with Wolfsburg who would have been delighted with their three goals away from from home at Bochum. Were it not for the fact that they shipped five at the other end. In fairness, Wolfsburg have become quite good fun to watch in recent weeks. Don't worry though, old Magath will soon put a stop to that.

That's it. Results and tables here. Highlights here.

Don't forget, Bayern and Nurnberg are on Five on Thursday evening against Bolton and Everton respectively in the UEFA Cup.