Bundesliga Weekend Review – What Joachim Loew Missed Whilst in London
On Saturday, Germany Manager Joachim Loew visited London to watch Per Mertesacker, one of Low’s choices at centre back for the national team. He won’t have been impressed at the quality of the defending on show between Chelsea and Arsenal in their eight goal thriller. Perhaps ‘Jogi’ would have benefitted from staying to watch Saturday’s action in Germany.
No doubt Loew will hear good reports of Marco Reus’ performance against Hannover. His decision to call up Gladbach’s finest to the national team last month is looking increasingly vindicated. There has been little streaky about the form of the man whose hair resembles that of a skunk. He continues to flourish under Lucien Favre with free reign behind the lone striker. This caught out Mirko Slomka’s side (who are?) as Reus notched a double in a tight 2-1 success reigniting Monchengladbach’s Champions League bid after three outings without a victory.
Elsewhere, the national team coach could have probably predicted the outcome in Munich as Bayern bounced back imperiously from last week’s defeat in Hannover. Nuremberg were the latest team to be dominated, something which almost every visitor has to endure at the moment when coming to the Allianz Arena. It only took Mario Gomez 85 seconds to Bayern to open their account in this game and from then on, it was the usual procession.
Bayern’s nearest challengers prior to the weekend were Borussia Dortmund. Their manager, Jurgen Klopp was born in Stuttgart but there was no happy return for the Dortmund boss. Borussia could not overcome Stuttgart at the Mercedes-Benz Arena as they drew 1-1 in a well contested game. This meant they dropped to third with Schalke overcoming Hoffenheim 3-1 with Werder Bremen staying in touch with an away victory at Mainz.
If Loew was searching for entertainment then he would have been well advised to visit Wolfsburg on Saturday afternoon. Hertha Berlin came to town and produced a clinical performance winning 3-2 in an exciting match. Markus Babbel’s team’s determination ultimately shone through and Felix Magath must be wondering what he has to do in order to ignite his second managerial reign at Wolfsburg.
Loew still managed to get his fill of Bundesliga before he left for London as he ventured to South West Germany on Friday night. Last year’s runners up Bayer Leverkusen travelled to bottom club Freiburg where he saw his former captain Michael Ballack inflict further pain.
Nevertheless, how impressed Joachim Loew will have been with Mertesacker in a match where his side conceded three is questionable. Judging what he saw on Saturday and the action he missed, the 51-year-old coach would have been better off staying put in the Bundesliga last weekend.
Matchday 11 Results:
Freiburg 0-1 Leverkusen
Bayern Munich 4-0 Nuremberg
Schalke 3-1 Hoffenheim
Stuttgart 1-1 Dortmund
Wolfsburg 2-3 Hertha Berlin
Gladbach 2-1 Hannover
Mainz 1-3 Werder Bremen
Cologne 3-0 Augburg
Hamburg 1-1 Kaiserslautern
1
FC Bayern Munich
11
8
1
2
30:3
+27
25
CL*
2
FC Schalke 04
11
7
0
4
22:16
+6
21
CL*
3
Borussia Dortmund
11
6
2
3
21:8
+13
20
CL*
4
SV Werder Bremen
11
6
2
3
20:14
+6
20
CL* Qual.
5
Borussia Mönchengladbach
11
6
2
3
13:8
+5
20
EL* Qual.
6
VfB Stuttgart
11
5
3
3
17:9
+8
18
EL* Qual.
7
Hannover 96
11
5
3
3
14:15
-1
18
8
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
11
5
2
4
13:14
-1
17
9
1899 Hoffenheim
11
5
1
5
14:12
+2
16
10
Hertha BSC Berlin
11
4
4
3
15:15
0
16
11
1. FC Köln
11
5
1
5
18:23
-5
16
12
VfL Wolfsburg
11
4
1
6
14:20
-6
13
13
1. FC Kaiserslautern
11
3
3
5
9:14
-5
12
14
1. FC Nuremberg
11
3
3
5
12:18
-6
12
15
1. FSV Mainz 05
11
2
3
6
13:22
-9
9
16
Hamburger SV
11
2
3
6
13:23
-10
9
Play-offs
17
FC Augsburg
11
1
5
5
8:20
-12
8
Relegation
18
SC Freiburg
11
2
1
8
14:26
-12
7
Relegation
Table thanks to Bundesliga Official Website