The wall from Finland

What is happening with the world? What is going wrong in Bayer? Pep Guardiola must have pissed his pants or something. Four games in two weeks and only two victories? WHAT IS GOING ON?

I'll tell you what's going on. First it was Wenger and the Gunners who made Bayern look like a bunch of orienteers who couldn't find their way to the goal. Then again this Friday the men from München stomped on a wall from Finland. Named Lukas Hradecky.

Before the game on Friday the Finnish press wrote that Hradecky has a chance to really show his talent and make an impression to the German football community if he plays well against the Bavarians. I could've bet my life savings against Frankfurt. Not because of Hradecky but because of the fact that the wieners (Frankfurters) had conceded 17 goals in the last 10 matches whereas Bayern had scored 33 times in the same amount. And if someone doesn't know Bayern had won all of their games so far in the Bundesliga. But no, not this time. The Eintracht fans witnessed something extraordinary - bavarians who couldn't score. And even if Hradecky wasn't the man of the match he made a few pretty important saves and was able to fill the shoes of Kevin Trapp who I myself regard as the second best keeper in Germany.

As "Luke" is the only Finnish player playing in the Bundesliga this year it's about time to write about him.

Hradecky never played for the Finnish Veikkausliiga (the top level of Finnish football) before he transferred to Denmark, to Esbjerg fB. He didn't seem that promising in his youth years even though he played for the Finnish youth national team. Even in the Finnish national team he has secured his place as the number one keeper only in the last qualifications. He has sometimes seemed as a keeper who has a hard time estimating the ball in crosses and because of that getting in trouble. But he is still fairly young, 25 years old, so he has still time to develop to his peak. And if even if he is not the best in crosses he has lightning-speed reflexes, as you could've witnessed this season. 

On top of this all he is very down to earth and for a guy coming from Turku he has a great sense of humor. I think that even if the Finnish press might be praising a little too much at the moment everyone who watches football can be very proud of him at the moment. And about time we got a decent player in the Bundesliga again, and looks like he is not going to give up his place easily in the future.

No need for the Coface boys

It's time to start blogging about the Bundesliga and possibly about other football related issues after a while.

So, let's talk about Mainz 05. The sympathetic little club from Rheinland-Pfalz. It's the 7th consecutive season Mainz is playing in the top league and for the first time after the astonishing 2010-11 season the game is actually looking solid.

The Bruchweg boys

And why are they going strong?

First of all, they have good balance and right players for each position. Loris Karius and Julian Baumgartlinger are in key role when it comes to defending the own goal. But the real threat to other teams is the attacking squadron. Christian Clemens, Pablo De Blasis, Yoshinori Muto and Yunus Mallı are all quick and skilled players. This quartet reminds me of Mainz "golden days". Remember Lewis Holtby, Adam Szalai and André Schürrle? I haven't seen such a performance (as we can see in the right) after a goal this year but as long as the quartet make something happen on the field there is no need for the Coface boys.

Especially Muto and Mallı have been on a roll. Mallı scored a hat trick yesterday against Hoffenheim and is now in the second place on the scoring chart. He was great even last season, but now he has really stepped up and might lead the team far. Yoshinori Muto was a complete stranger for the larger audience before the start of the season. Replacement for the other Japanese striker Shinji Okazaki has proven to be a big help for the 05ers. The two goals he has scored won't surely be the last ones for him.

So who knows where this team will be in May. If the quartet stays together we might see Mainz in the Europa League next year.

It's just the beginning

So the season is underway and the big teams have held their guts. Bayern has been very convincing, but as the last season shows early rounds do not tell the whole truth. Eintracht Frankfurt has been better than expected and they are in the lead alongside Bayern with six points.

From what I've seen this far I could predict a few relegating teams,although it's early. I'd say Greuter Fürth has got a very difficult season in front of them and it's pretty obvious that they will not stay in the league,although they managed to beat Mainz in the second round. Hoffenheim is a team that will be battling for relegation if they don't pick up their game. One scored goal in two matches doesn't promise very much. It seems Ryan Babel is desperately needed in the squad, and maybe he will be enough to change the course. My personal Black Horse Stuttgart has collected zero points so far and are on the last position. The game against Bayern showed that they are not ready to battle for the top positions. I'm sure they will pick up their game as the season goes on. It just has to happen quickly, before the team loses its faith in itself.

From a Finnish point of view the start of the season has been both good and bad. Pukki hasn't got any playtime and it seems that there is not going to be much time for him if there are no injuries, especially now when Afellay joined the Gelsenkircheners. Pukki still showed some good form in the national friendly against Czech republic when he scored the only goal of the game. And not only did he score, but he was able to find his teammates with accurate passes and won many one on one situations as well. Hopefully Huub Stevens will find some use for him in Schalke's attack. Marica has proved himself useless, so that place is to be filled but probably with Afellay.

Good news for the Finns are that Alex Ring has been playing decent minutes in Mönchengladbach shirt and that Hyypiä and Leverkusen got their first win this season. Ring has showed in the few games that he is ready to fight for his place in the opening eleven and is capable of scoring as well as defending tight against anyone. A pity is that Mönchengladbach is nowhere near the team they were last season. But as I said many times before. It's only the beginning.

Los geht's

Finally it's started again. The Bundesliga season 2012/2013 is underway. Don't want to linger too much on the favorites, but once again Bayern is expected to go all the way. Dortmund is the other candidate to the top. Those two will race against each other and it will be a huge surprise if the Champion won't come from those two teams.

Every year there is at least one team that surprises everyone. Two years ago Mainz 05 and last year Mönchengladbach were able to tease the top teams until the end of the season. This year I would lift two teams which are capable of doing something big. Stuttgart showed great form towards the end of last season and their team has only gotten stronger. Harnik is in a good form as well as Ibisevic who scored twice in the Europa league qualification against Dynamo Moscow.

Stuttgart is playing against Wolfsburg in the first round which I consider the second team capable of harassing the big ones. The team is strong on paper and it played a solid second half of the last season. They have gotten two big players who are the top of the league when they succeed. Ivica Olic and Diego form a very dangerous duo, but their form is a questionmark. Olic scored twice in the last pre-season game so he is at least finding his form. To me Diego is a very interesting player. He was one of the best Bundesliga players some years ago in Werder Bremen, but then his magic just disappeared. He is a player that can bring Wolfsburg a long way, or take it down as well. Wolfsburg is a team that can go either great or its performance might be miserable as well. Magath has showed that he is a strong manager that can lead a team to the trophy, but when it starts to wrong the team might be found in the relegation battles.

There are of course at least Schalke 04, Hannover 96 and maybe even Bayer Leverkusen that are able to fight for the top positions. I still doubt it. Hannover just doesn't have the material and Schalke is still too young a team. Leverkusen still has the potential, but I'm very doubtful with the coaching. Let's hope I'm wrong as the eyes of whole Finland, let alone the Germans, are focused on Sami Hyypiä. 

March of the Japanese

Finally the Japanese footballers have started to break through to the top teams in European football. Of course the shining star at the moment is Shinji Kagawa who was, at least as far as I'm concerned, the best player in the Bunedsliga last year. Japanese players have tried to make it in Europe before without a greater success. The most successful player might be Hidetoshi Nakata, who played mostly in Italy, but never made the big headlines. Now its Kagawas time to show the world some Japanese football.

Kagawa's shoes are not easy to fill. I think that Götze has the potential to do that as he showed the season before. No one else in the team doesn't even come close. The hole that Kagawa left is even bigger if we talk about the Japanese players. There are in fact ten Japanese in the Bundesliga this year. Hasebe who plays for Wolfsburg is often seen on the field and Schalkes Utchida has been an important player for the Gelsenkircheners for the past season or two. Both of them are good examples of Japanese hard working players.

Last season Stuttgart made a great deal when they bought a German-Japanese player. Gotoku Sakais performance in the14 games he played for Stuttgart was outstanding. He hardly lost any one-on-one situations and was  very good to both directions from his back post. He made five assists and
scored an average of 3,43 in the kicker marks last season. I was really impressed with his attitude and the pace he goes into battling situations. I think Gotoku Sakai is the man to keep a closer eye on for the 2012-2013 season.

Another interesting player is MönchengladbachsYuki Otsu, who played in three matches last season. He is a promising attacker who scored two beautiful goals in the Olympics for Japan. Especially now when Marco Reus is not there anymore to score goals young players have to step up. Otsu might be one of those, although he hasn't been playing too much in the pre-season games. All in all ten Japanese players is a big bunch that will keep some Japanese focus in the Bundesliga as well.

Update

As the EURO is wrapped up it's time to concentrate in the Bundesliga again.

The next season is still a mystery and teams are building up their squads. The transfer market has cooled down a bit but there will surely happen something big before it closes again. Many players have changed clubs inside the Bundesliga, and I've listed some interesting ones for me as well. Here are some big transfers:

Marco Reus (Möchengladbach ->Dortmund)
Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund -> Man U)
Mario Mandzukic (Wolfsburg -> Bayern München)
Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen -> Bayern München)
Dante (Mönchengladbach -> Bayern München)
Tranquillo Barnetta (Leverkusen -> Schalke)
Eren Derdiyok (Leverkusen ->Hoffenheim)
Ivica Olic (Bayern Munchen -> Wolfsburg)

Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen -> Hoffenheim)
Rene Adler (Leverkusen -> HSV)

Mladen Petric (HSV ->?)
Eljero Elia (Juventus -> Werder Bremen)
Naldo (Werder Bremen -> Wolfsburg)
Luuk de Jong (Twente -> Mönchengladbach)
                                                                                  Luuk de Jong scored 25 goals last season for Twente.

Of course, these are only a fraction of all the transfers. But the biggest lost for the whole league is the transfer of Shinji Kagawa off to England. He was without a doubt the best player of the last season, and will surely show the islanders what Bundesliga is made of.

Other than that the teams seem as strong as they did last year. Bayern has three top strikers and if Dortmund will continue with one striker tactics they have a problem as well. But I think Klopp might find room for both Reus and Lewandowski now that the Japanese is gone. It's left to be seen how many players will change clubs so the real speculation of the season can begin.

The season is wrapped up

As you might have noticed,the season has ended without much effort from the blogger. It was a great season and Dortmund made it again. The decicive game against Bayern exceeded every expectation and offered a great deal of drama. In the cup final Bayern had another chance, but at the latest in that game Dortmund proved their superiorty this year. I can congratulate Dortmund of their double! And wish Bayern better luck next year. Maybe they can turn one of their three second places this year into a first place.

For Finland the second half of the season didn't go as well as hoped. Teemu Pukki didn't get enough time on the field, but was able to score some goals nonetheless. All in all it was a great season from him, and as the team for the next year is being formed I think Schalke will count on him even more. Alexander Ring got to play a few minutes in a couple of games and had a few chances of scoring goals. Hope he will get more responsibility next season. The third name in the Bundesliga next year is indeed Timo Furuholm who represents Fortuna Düsseldorf, that is if he stays in the club. So lots and lots to hope for the next season.

Although the Bundesliga is over for this year there is still much more football to come. You should check out my other blog lamboftheday.blogspot.com. That is about the EURO 2012 and will be updated almost daily.

Thanks for all readers! The blogging will start again next year as the Bundesliga starts. Enjoy the EURO 2012!