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.
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