Week Seventeen: Ivan The Great

It seems that TV companies decision making processes are as shackled by the commercial chains in Germany as they are in England. A visually impaired alien from the planet Fusballistscheise could have told you that the Leverkusen v Bremen match was the game of the week rather than Hertha v Bayern. But, Munich are probably a bigger draw internationally so that was the big TV game on Saturday.

And so in punishmant for the TV execs lack of vision, the great God of football Zigga Zagga did smite the Olympic Stadium in Berlin with a 0-0 draw, while the game in Bremen was a humdinger with enough goals to feed a starving Derby. It finished 5-2 to the northerners who smashed Leverkusen's winning streak The victory was made all the more glorious by two goals from Ivan Klasnic who has returned to the Bremen team following two kidney transplants.

Bayern's poor form coupled with Klasnic's heroics puts his team level on points with Munich as the season stops for its winter break. The Bavarians are the winter champions but only on goal difference. Despite only one defeat all season, a succession of poor performances has resulted in enough points being dropped to allow Bremen to catch up and make Uli Hoeness' comments about being so far ahead that their opponents will need binoculars to see them seem a little ridiculous.

Four points behind the front two are Hamburg who only managed a 1-1 draw with surprise package Karlsruhe. Then its Bayer, we know what happened there. Fifth are Schalke who, buoyed by their impressive qualification to the next stage of the Chump's League, beat Too-Good-Too-Go-Down-Nurnberg 2-1.

Down at the bottom its getting a bit wooooo and a bit weeeeeeh and a bit What the..! We'll start with Stuttgart losing to Bielefeld 2-0 (wooooh), Rostock beating Bochum to come out of the bottom three (weeeeeh) and Energie Cottbus dispensing a (gerd) mullering on Hannover 5-1 (what the..!). Dimitar Rangelow was the star man and what a star. Two goals and an assist. Yet another tricky midfielder shakes his thing in the Bundesliga. It's becoming a trend isn't it. Someone should write an article maybe. Not me though.

Oh and Wolsfburg beat Dortmund 4-0. That's the mid-table for you. God knows whats going on in there.

Thats it. Results and tables here.

A Christmas Podcast

While I prepare a winter break/yo-yo round-up special, I can't pass up the opportunity to plug the Onion Bag's Christmas Podcast. It's a dramatization of the Dickens tale with some snappy dialogue and truly offensive acting. However, you may find it a brief diversion while waiting for the new Guardian podcast to update. It can be downloaded from this web page.

I'll be back later in the week. In the meantime, Dimitar Rangelow... he's a bit good isn't he?

Week Sixteen: Bayern drop points. Bremen drop trousers. Kahn dropped.

Traditionally, opportunities to catch Bayern are rare. However, there is a growing feeling that all is not well in the Munich camp. Last Sunday, the so-called (by me at least) champions to-be, could only muster a 0-0 draw with relegation fodder Duisburg. This week, goalkeeper Oliver Kahn was fined 25,000 yo-yos for a breach of club discipline. It all stems from some injudicious comments he made in Kicker magazine about Luca Toni and Franck Ribery not pulling their weight and being unable to speak German. The usual Kahn guff. Anyhoo, the giant one has also been dropped for the weekend's final game before the winter break at Berlin.

So with Bayern stumbling slightly, the opportunity was there for Werder and Hamburg to capitalise and not for the first time, they didn't.

Hamburg also only managed a 0-0 draw with bottom club Cottbuss who have started to show some signs of life in recent weeks. Werder went one worse and lost 4-3 at Hannover. Bremen took the lead against the visitors but went 3-1 down. A brave fight back brought it to 3-3 until Mike Hanke completed is hat trick on 77 minutes. By all accounts it was a grumpy affair and Hugo Almeida was sent of in the last minute. It was the start of a pretty rotten week for Bremen.

So despite all their troubles, Bayern extended their lead at the top to two points. However, moving into the frame just behind Bremen and Hamburg are Druggie Leverkusen. The Ruhr club have not lost a game in the Bundesliga since October. In that time they have scored 16 goals and only conceded 2. Three of those sixteen were last weekend against Rostock. Rolfes, Freier and your man Geikas doing the business. That's 8 this season for the Greek international.

Last Sunday I sat down and watched a decent game between Nurnberg and Berlin. I thought the Bavarians blew the Berliners away in the first half and was impressed by the industry of their forwards, particularly attacking midfielder Marek Mintal. The lack of confidence showed in the second half though as they let Berlin back in. Painfully young looking Fabian Lustberger grabbed what turned out to be a consolation as Nurnberg hung on for their second straight win. I think I've seen enough of this season to say with some confidence that Nurnberg are Too Good To Go Down. Regular readers of the Bundesbag will know what that means.

Elsewhere, the Champions Stuttgart continued their revival with a handy win over Wolsfburg. Heiko Westermann grabbed a brace in the last minute to claim a 2-2 draw at Frankfurt. Things took a decidedly unpleasant turn at Bochum as their was some crowd trouble at the game against Karlsruhe which led to press reports of three policeman sustaining injuries. Not sure who else got hurt. The final score was 2-2.

All of which is mildly diverting. However, the big result of last week was the one which kicked off the weekend. Borussia Dortmund 6, the Admirable Bielefeld 1. Two weeks ago BVB coach Thomas Doll was ferociously tugging on his collar, refusing to take calls from the board and otherwise pretending to be someone or somewhere else. Last Friday, following a 2-1 away win at Stuttgart, he watched the goals rain down from all over the park. The result was the final straw for Armenia. Their coach, Ernst Middendorp paid for the defeat with his life... I mean job. It was a cracking game and, just to show there are no hard feelings, particularly enjoyed Croatian striker Mladen Petric's exuberant display. I'm looking forward to seeing him next summer in Euro 2008. But not looking forward to seeing him hoovered up by the Premier League in August, no doubt by some mid table shambles like Boro or Brum or, God forbid, Portsmouth... Don't do it Malden.

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

Week Fifteen: Open in a new window

I'm not one for goal clips on Youtube (or Yowtube as its called in the Black Country) . Often times I find the quality understandably poor and, as a Setanta UK subscriber (or at least it came bundled with my cable package), I know that I need only wait until Wednesdays when Bundesliga Highlights is shown at ten o clock on Setenta 1. I've considered linking Youtube links to the relevant games mentioned in this blog but am more likely to link to the wrong one just like the inestimable Raphael Honigstein did last week. My one concession is the link to Goalstube at the bottom of my blog entries.

Where was I? Ah yes, football. Last Sunday, Bayern returned to top of the table after being knocked off by Bremen who were victorious in the Northern Derby against Hamburg the previous day. Franck Ribery's strike was enough to restore order at Bielefeld. Bremen's hard fought win came thanks to goals by Boubacar Sanogo against his old club (bet he loved that) and Petri Pasenan. Hamburg's goal was the standard one written into the contract of Rafael van der Vaart.

With the top three seamlessly tied up, its time to head forth... I mean fourth to Bayer Leverkusen who travelled to the capital and delivered a 3-0 tonking on HSC. Beneath them are Karlsruhe. Though not for much longer if they are going to lose to teams like Cottbus. 2-0 it finished at the Friendship Stadium.

Cottbus' win could not lift them off the bottom thanks to a rare win by Duisberg over Nurnberg. However, they are just three points behind fourth from bottom Rostock who lost 3-0 last Friday at home to Hannover.

Elsewhere, Wolfsburg and Frankfurt fought out a 2-2 draw, Schalke won 1-0 at home to Bochum and Stuttgart's rehabilitation to a step backwards, much to the relief of Thomas Doll and Dortmund. The final score at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion was 2-1. Mladen Petric sent BVB home happy and Armin Vey back to the drawing board.

That's it. Results and tables here. Highlights here... I mean it this time.