Zidan found his place again.

Full on enthusiasm after a weeks break. The ongoing Bundesliga season has proved to be very even. Only three teams are battling against each other for the remaining eurogame positions,otherwise it seems really tight on the top and on the bottom. After the Christmas break even the top teams haven't been able to dominate, and the teams in the lower section of the table have been snatching points from the big teams. The outcomes of the games has been hard to predict. Dortmund has been solid as a rock, but every one else has had problems. From a betters point of view also Mainz has been solid, and with better odds than Dortmund.

Mainz has drawn three of their last games, and all three with 1-1. Every time Mohammed Zidan has been the scorer. I haven't been too trusting with Mainz's game so far and it has seemed all season long that they might relegate. Now it's looking good. If Zidan can keep up with the scoring Mainz will finish somewhere where they are standing right now (13th). Mohamed Zidan is an interesting player. He has represented Mainz a few times and always keeps coming back, after not quite making it anywhere else. I remember him playing pretty good in Hamburg a few years back, but it just didn't last. It seems like he made a right decision coming back to the 05'ers again. The competition in Dortmund, where he transferred from, was just too hard for him.

Mainz will play a derby on Saturday against Kaiserslautern. The match seems more important to Kaiserslautern as they have slid on the third last position in the table. Only two points after the Christmas break. At some point it seemed Kaiserslautern were playing at least OK, and even the scores show that they are not a team that gives up. The defeats have come with one or max. two goals. It seems the level of the squad just isn't enough, although there are no week players, just no real stars. I'd say Kaiserslautern would need a striker like Zidan. Shechter has scored 3 and Kouemaha 2. The whole team has scored 16 goals in 22 games. That is alarmingly few. There are two players (Gomez, Huntelaar 18) who have scored more in the league this season, which tells the whole problem Kaiserslautern has. The future doesn't seem bright for them, and they really must start gathering points immediately if they want to play in the Bundesliga next year.

In the top of the league Bayern is playing against Schalke. Schalke has had problems with the other big teams, and this is their time to really show that they are up for the Champions. This is also the time for Bayern to start fighting,because the titel is slipping away at the pace they are playing. Zero goals in the champions league game and in the last game at Freiburg. I'd give Olic a chance. At least he works really hard and gives the other guys opportunities to score, at least more than Gomez does. That's my opinion. Before this round Dortmund is already 4 points ahead of Bayern and 5 points ahead of Schalke. Whatever the outcome of Bayern-Schalke is the both teams certainly will hope that Dortmund won't take 3 points.

Pukki against Ring

No game like against Bayern have we seen from the Hamburgers this season. I saw Mainz - Hamburg before the Christmas break in Mainz and when i compare that game to the one last weekend I must say i didn't reconize Hamburg as the same team. Ok, Hamburg against Bayern is kind of a classic, but I think Thorsten Fink had done something magical with his team under the game. Hamburg were definitely not the worse team in the tight battle. I'd like to say they were better, but maybe a tie was the fair result.

All in all Hamburg showed character in one to one situations and were able to play great as a team. Drobny made some good saves and the defence held tight nearly all the time. Even the attacks were working decently. Well, don't want to praise them too much. They didn't win, but it was without a doubt the best match I've seen them play in the last two seasons. Of course I haven't seen them all, but anyway. I was totally surprised, because I was more than certain that Bayern will crush them like bugs.

I'm not an expert in team budgets, but I'd reckon that Hamburg isn't one of the poorest clubs. And seeing their material, they finally came even close to the level that they should be playing on. Let's at least hope they won't be as bad as they were against Mainz, because that was just awful. One could say that was hardly football. This weekend Hamburg is facing Köln. Köln can either play great or suck really bad,so this is Hamburgs chance to take a big victory. The other option is a big defeat. At least that's my guess. 1-4 or 4-1.

That's enough for now. Except Gladbach against Schalke will be played on saturday night. Ring against Pukki. Just have to keep my fingers crossed even one of them gets on the pitch. At least Pukki should, because Marica scored twice two weeks ago. He's done for the whole season. And Schalke really messed it up on the last round. So wake up Stevens. Pukki in the starting eleven. Now. And if Pukki plays, then Favre should let Ringgo and try to slow Pukki down. May the best Finn win!

Will the top four keep on going?

When I took a first look to next weekends games I thought the outcome for the most of the games was quite clear. On a closer look it might not be so. The top four are playing against teams that are in the lower end of the table, but I'd say only Mönchengladbach might have difficulties in scoring three points. Bayern has an easy job against HSV, Schalke shouldn't have a problem against Mainz in spite of Mainz signing Mohammed Zidan and I think Dortmund is just too good for Nürnberg at the moment. Although Nürnberg played decent against Hannover last weekend, but that is not enough. Someone has to score and  only moving the ball nicely from time to time isn't enough. And maybe it was Hannover's weakness as well on the second half last weekend that made Nürnberg look better as the table shows.

Wolfsburg lost on the last round against Bayern 2-0. I haven't seen them play with all the new players, but the I still have a feeling they might be picking up their game. Maybe with 41 million euros you also should. Mönchengladbach were convincing again in the last game, but something tells me it might not last this round. Wolfsburg's new players are still a mystery to me. Magath, as might have said before, seems to have lost his touch so actually the whole team is a mystery. Of course Gladbach still are the favorite but it will be tight.

The match between Hannover and Nürnberg last friday proved at least that Hannover is not in the same form as in the beginning of the season. They rely too much on Abdellaoue as Ya Konan is not playing. Somehow the attacks aren't creative and the amount of really good scoring chances don't come easily. They had a few chances against Nürnberg on the first half to score more goals, but at least on the second half the performance was poor. Then again they won and that's what matters. But I reckon that on the long run they will slide towards the end of the table. The Hannover that we remember from last year has disappeared. Slomka is a good coach and he can certainly make things happen, but something in the team is missing. Even Hertha might  prove a difficult opponent in the next round. Much depends on Abdellaoue and his scoring form.