It's tight on the top again

As the second round of the second half already starting tonight last weeks games are maybe already forgotten by some. Anyway the 18th round was at least as interesting as the first round of the league a few months ago. There weren't any surprises -except the big one which made the league and the championship race more than interesting again.

So what happened between Mönchengladbach and Bayern München? I'll say there were a few crucial moments in the game that led to the result. First of all Neuer's mistake  gave Mönchengladbach the advantage which they never gave away. After the first goal the course of the match was clear: Bayern would attack and Mönchengladbach would concentrate in defending and counter-attacks. That's exactly what happened, but in spite of Bayerns efforts Mönchengladbach created the most dangerous scoring opportunities.

The whole Mönchengladbach team performed greatly, but I have to lift up two players whose contributions to their team were priceless. Especially on the second half Bayern pressed hard,  but they were constantly stopped by one man, Martin Stranzl. He seemed to be everywhere to stop the Bayern players. I don't even know how many goals he prevented but he was there all the time, with his bloody nose, to make a crucial save. Another man who played a great game was Patrick Herrmann. He is no surprise name to be praised from the game if you look at the score sheet. But he performed well on every front and made almost any mistakes. He was very good bringing the ball forward in the counter-attacks and made good decisions that created scoring situations.  The two goals he made just made his game and it's no wonder he got rated 1 by Kicker.

I got to think of Mönchengladbach's game and their chances of finishing in the very top of the table in the end of the season. They have one of the quickest attacks in the league and they seem like the best counte-attacking team in the Bundesliga at the moment. The question lies, as always with a counter-attacking team, what happens in the games they are given the ball and the opponent draws back? I always remember Valencia about ten years ago and their counter-attacking tactics. They almost solely scored from counter attacks, but were able to win the La Liga and the Uefa cup with counter-attacks. So it is, or at least was, possible to be succesful in the long run with that kind of play. I'm not saying Mönchengladbach is a counter attacking team, but they certainly have what it takes to be one and against teams like Bayern benefit from the speed and good passes the attacking players produce. We'll see if Mönchengladbach have what it takes in the championship race but they will be close and they'll certainly be a tough opponent for every team.

The Finns didn't even play one minute on the last round. I don't want to be someone who wishes players to play bad, but from Pukki's point of view the scores Kicker gave the attacking players in Schalke's game looked good. Obasi was rated 3,5 and I hope he will start from the bench against Köln. On this round the most exciting game is the one between Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen. It's maybe a little hasty to draw conclusions only from one performance, but Werder couldn't show anything against Kaiserslautern in the last match and was actually the worse team on the field for the most part of the game. Leverkusen didn't prove anything either against Mainz, but as Mainz after coming from two goals behind gave the ball to Leverkusen, they were able to squeeze out the victory. This weekend it might be 0-0. Or 1-1. But I'd suspect a game with few goals. In the bottom end of the table Mainz and Freiburg play against each other and it is again a six point game. Freiburg is confident after winning Augsburg and rising up from the last position of the table. Mainz proved in the last game they have potential to do better. They just should hold on the ball and attack more. Not draw back and hope Szalai will score from one of the crosses as they did in the last game.

Ready for the second half.

Almost all transfers are made. The last big one quite shocking for those Freiburg fans who still hope to stay in the league after the spring. Papiss Demba Cisse got transferred to Newcastle with big money. Of course Freiburg has a little time to buy a player to fill his spot, but filling those boots will prove hard. Cisse was able to score 37 goals for Freiburg in 65 Bundesliga fixtures. That is more than great especially when you look at Freiburg's total goal amount and place in the table since he has been playing there. The other players in the team are capable of scoring too, they showed that  during the last rounds. But no one comes even close to Cisse. That is for sure.

The first round after the winter break starts with a few interesting matches. A very big match at the end of the table is played between Augsburg and Freiburg. Both of the team dread losing this one, and it's interesting to see if it's only about avoiding mistakes. Augsburg didn't convince in the friendlies during the break (1 win-1 draw-1 defeat). Greuter Fürth that they lost against is on the second place in the 2. Bundesliga though. Freiburg performed a little better with two wins and one defeat. They beat CFR Cluj and Xerez and lost against Werder Bremen. The good thing for them is that they scored three times against Werder without Cisse. Both for Freiburg and Augsburg the game is crucial when thinking about the ABSTIEG they want to avoid and may even be the decisive game.

The first round of the spring season starts, in my opinion, with the most exciting game: Borussia Mönchengladbach - Bayern München. The Bavarians want to pick it up from where they left in December. And now they have Schweini back in the squad, so it looks very promising for them. But one should keep in mind that Mönchengladbach beat Bayern in the first round of the Bundesliga this season and will want to do that again. Mönchengladbach played decent games during the break and if they can keep scoring they might even win. Draw is tempting from a betting point of view but i think we could see some goals. The last game that Borussia won was 0-1 but this should be exciting. Let's hope Ring will come from the bench and score the winning goal.

Finns on fire

I just have to praise the Finns on their performances in the friendly games.

First of all it happened: Alexander Ring got loaned to Mönchengladbach, and I'm quite sure he's there to stay. But the weird thing is he has scored three goals in two friendly games even though he isn't supposed to be a goal scorer. As I have stated out earlier he has a good shot and he has scored a few times during the last season, but the goals have come as a surprise - even for himself I'd figure. He has proven that he has joined the team with the right attitude. The attitude makes him such a good player, and that is one crucial thing that is so different about him compared to other finnish players. But the fact is, like he said himself, he is not exactly finnish. The attitude and the way of playing definitely comes from his youth years in Leverkusen's youth teams. He has proved himself useful and we might see him on the pitch quite soon. Maybe even in a week.

Schalke hasn't been performing too good in the friendlies, but then again the games are not so important. The great thing is, that Teemu Pukki has answered for most of Schalkes goals. It's hard to tell without actually having seen the games of how the players actually played, but at least Pukki has scored more than the other strikers, and that can only be a good thing. Pukki has said that he is happy about the first months in Schalke and that it has gone better than expected, but shows a good attitude in saying that he wants to maintain the same level.

There has even come a third finnish player to Germany. Timo Furuholm transferred into Fortuna Düsseldorf from Inter Turku out of the blue and with good luck he will be playing Bundesliga next year, as the Düsseldorfers are leading the 2. Bundesliga for now. In any case the flow of finnish players to Germany is more than amazing, and seeing them perform well makes even a pessimist finnish football fan get excited and dream of better results for the national team too. The greatest thing in all this is that Finland hasn't had good strikers ever (if we don't count Jari Litmanen as one), but now its starting to look better.

Finally I can't ignore Wolfsburg's  actions on the transfer market during the Christmas break. They have bought eight players, and three have left. I've regarded Magath and his actions weird this season, but it seems he is really desperate. I have no clue of the new players, but if he's trying to build a winning team for this season with those players he's more dumb as it has seemed before. I have thought during the fall season that Wolfsburg plays like a team who's gonna drop into the second league. Now I could even bet money on it. Magath seems to have lost it and the first games are going to show how the break has worked for him. If and when it's going to go bad for Wolfsburg I suggest they sack Magath immediately. They have bought so many players that someone else could actually make the best with the new players.