Bundesliga Bulletin: Bayern close in after Leipzig slip up
January 26, 2020
Good week for: Erling Haaland, Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt, title race, great goals
Bad week for: Julian Nagelsmann, Werder Bremen (again), Florian Kohfeldt (again), Fortuna Düsseldorf
The headlines:
— Pick that one out!
Whoever picks the contenders for the Bundesliga's Goal of the Season will have to spend plenty of time poring over the highlights of matchday 19 with wonderstrikes flying in all over the place. Erling Haaland's threading of the needle, Robin Quaison's first touch and volley, Almamy Toure's rocket, Leon Goretzka's scissor kick and Florian Neuhaus's control, spin and 40-yard lob must all be in the frame.
— Leaders lacking threat
Just when it looked like someone might be taking control at the top of the table, RB Leipzig fell to a 2-0 loss in Frankfurt. The home side may just have found the blueprint for playing the league leaders. Bayern Munich, who play RB on February 9, may take note.
— Plea pleasing for Foals
That stunning Neuhaus strike confirmed a 3-1 home win for Gladbach over Mainz that ensured the Foals could take advantage of the Red Bulls' slip up. Alassane Plea was the real star of the show though, with two smart finishes from set pieces either side of halftime helping Gladbach recover from an early concession. Neither Plea nor Gladbach's other major attacking threat Marcus Thuram are consistent in finding the net but seem to alternate their bursts of goals. So far, it's working for Marco Rose's men who have won nine in a row at Borussia Park.
— Easy does it for Dortmund and Haaland
Borussia Dortmund started the weekend with ruthless crushing of Cologne's best winning run for nearly two decades. BVB took the lead within a minute and, for a change, didn't make things interesting for the neutral with two more goals by the 38th minute. Erling Haaland is a man who demands attention though, as our man in Dortmund found out.
— Capital gains
Both the Bundesliga's capital city clubs picked up three points on Saturday but in contrasting fashions. Union Berlin once again excelled at home, picking up their seventh home win of the campaign with a 2-0 win over Augsburg that featured a rare goal for an old Borussia Dortmund favorite (see The Stats). With just one win on the road, their fortress in the forest is critical to them.
Hertha's 2-1 win in Wolfsburg was a little more dramatic, with Dodi Lukebakio winning it in the 90th minute. After a second half collapse against Bayern Munich last week, Jürgen Klinsmann was happier.
— Big bad Bayern
Bayern Munich delivered their best peformance of the season and sent an ominous message to the rest of the division. Thomas Müller was excellent, Alphonso Davies continues to be a revelation and David Wagner admitted his Schalke team had no answer. Bayern are just one point behind RB Leipzig now. Title race: ON.
— Bye, bye Bremen?
Werder Bremen's woes continued into 2020. A 3-0 defeat to a Hoffenheim side was worrying given how little the visitors offered in exchange for the three points they took with them. They are the side in the worst form in the league in the last 15 games and have only one win in their last five. Florian Kohfeldt and his side are in trouble.
The quotes:
"I just think it's a pity that Erling is already slacking off. Three goals in Augsburg, only two today. I hope he doesn't just score one goal next week."
Dortmund's new Norweigan has set the bar pretty high in the eyes of Roman Bürki.
"You can always warn someone. You can say: 'Be careful not to fall down the stairs.' And when someone does fall down the stairs, you can say: 'I told you so.'"
Freiburg's head coach Christian Streich on the defeat to Paderborn
"Maybe we should play in our league and say we only play against these teams, like a Super League for the Bundesliga."
Fredi Bobic after Frankfurt's win against another top team
"We were the better team for 60 minutes, but made the wrong decisions in the final third."
Werder Bremen's Florian Kohfeldt after the loss to Hoffenheim
"If you'd seen us playing 11 vs. 11 on Wednesday, you'd have seen that we're a long way from being a top team. We are at the top, but if we want to really want to reach the summit we have a lot of work to do. I don't know if every player has understood that. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they want to be a winner or not. And on Wednesday, the decision was not that they're full of desire to be German champions."
Julian Nagelsmann after his side's defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt
The stats:
— He's been hard to escape, but such stats bear repeating. Erling Haaland has five goals in 56 minutes of Bundesliga football, has scored five goals from six shots and is the first Bundesliga player ever to score five goals in his first two games.
— Jadon Sancho has 11 goals and 12 assists in the Bundesliga this season. Last season he had 12 goals and 17 assists. The teenager who turns 20 in March has come a long way.
— RB Leipzig failed to score for the first time all season. They'd scored three or more in their previous nine matches.
— Thomas Müller has turned his form around under Hansi Flick. In the 10 games before Flick arrived, Müller had 4 assists to his name. In the 8 since, he has 4 goals and 8 assists.
— Neven Subotic scored his first Bundesliga goal since May 2015. That's 1,722 days.
The fans:
There was some irony to Hertha's banner in the away end in Wolfsburg. Then again, Lars Windhorst is only a millionaire and not a billionaire so I suppose technically that's accurate.
In Bayern's game against Schalke, there was a huge choreo before the game to remember Hugo Railing. The first banner underneath reads: A Munich man, a father, a Bayern member, and on the council. The second reads: Hugo Railing, persecuted and murdered by the Nazis. Players also huddled together around a #WeRemember sign. Never again indeed.