COFACE and Glühwein

Last Saturday was the day to enjoy Mainz at its best. A little below ten degrees with sun 
shining. On the top of that Mainz against Hamburg. Not the top game of the league but 
good entertainment. I have to say that COFACE arena is cosy and full of atmosphere. All 
the 34.000 people were cheering for the 05 to win. They succeeded in being the better 
team for sure, but just couldn't score. I expected a lot more from Hamburg, especially 
having seen their game two weeks back, but anything they can be praised of are their 
fans, who made a lot of noise. Mainz showed a lot of character and only made one big 
mistake this time, which the hamburgers couldn't make use of. The 05'ers were better 
throughout the game though, and should've kept the three points in Mainz.


On this blog you can't have a round without hearing from Teemu Pukki if he scores. The 
fin played a solid game and scored the winning goal. I haven't looked at the stats but 
Pukki was not only good in scoring situations but also able to create chances and most 
importantly in passing the ball to his teammates. He is really finding his place in the 
team and with it his confidence is rising. He has now proven his talent and showed his 
scoring abilities. No doubt he earned to be in the starting eleven and with these kind of performances he is going to start even more matches on the field. Schalke's performance 
wasn't superb, but solid enough to make them climb up to the third place in the table.


Worrying for Schalke supporters is the fact that S04 havent been playing great, at least not against their biggest rivals. On this saturday the top game is Schalke-Bremen and both really want to win to keep a smallest possible distance to the top of the table. I'ts Schalke's home game so they are a slight favorite, but Pizarro in form Bremen will make the best for Schalke not to succeed. It's looking like a very tight game and seems like a draw, but could go either way. I might put my money on the draw, and hope that they will score a lot of goals.


It is the last round before the christmas brake and all the teams will sertainly give all they have at this point and go celebrate christmas after a win. In my book there still are a few games in which the outcome seems certain beforehand. The opening game of the round is Bayern-Köln which, in spite of the odd, almost certainly a home win. Not the betters first choice in games but I'm sure Bayern will crush Solbakken's crew. Köln doesn't simply have a chance in this one. After seeing Hamburg last week, and concidering Augsburgs improving performances I have to say that Augsburg might win this one. In my book it's at least a draw. The most certain result is going to be Leverkusens win against Nürnberg. Derdiyok and the whole Dutt's squad really played under their level against Hannover and now they must win to prevent the top getting too far. The last game is Wolfsburg-Stuttgart that I am curious about is Wolfsburg-Stuttgart. I still don't have any faith in Magath and I'd say they are playing on a level that is on the bottom of the league at the moment. They have been fairly ok at home, but I still have trouble seeing them getting more than one point from this game.