Augsburg ready for another season

I think it's time to concentrate on the lower end of the table on this round again.

Hertha took an important win in Mainz last weekend and Augsburg carried on with scoring points with a draw against Bremen. Augsburgs last defeat is from 18.2. against Leverkusen. It seems the man with the moustache, Jos Luhukay, has got his team into a flight that will result in a place among the 15 best in the end of the season. Six draws and two wins from the last nine games. If they keep it up the augsburgers can enjoy the top level Bundesliga even next year.

Augsburg against Köln might be the most interesting match this weekend. Köln is really struggling. 6-1 against the reigning champions last weekend doesn't leave much room for speculation. The Köln defence is just as bad as the numbers indicate. Solbakken has tried his best coaching the team, but maybe he has been a bit too ambitious. The Köln offence is still ok, but with the players he has a more defensive style could be better. The game against Augsburg is vital, and seeing Augsburg's record I'd say a draw is the way to go in the bets. If Köln loses, they'll drop below the Bavarians in the table and will have a hard time trying to get past them again.

Köln is still a team that can either win or lose heavily, as we saw against Dortmund. The strikers are still top class, but they need a self confidence boost. Podolski has been struggling and Novakovic hasn't found the form the whole season. The swede Mikael Ishak made an impression to me in the game against Hannover although he wasn't able to score. Maybe he is the man to place in the forward . At least he's got potential.

The other game in the relegation battle is between Kaiserslautern and Hamburg. Kaiserlautern has only seven games time to climb from the bottom, and it has to start now. This game is a matter of life and death to them. With a win they'll close the gap to Hamburg to three points and by losing the gap to the second last team will stay at least at six points. I don't see Kaiserslautern winning, although HSV has been horrible. To the hamburgers dropping one league below would be a catastrophe and I still kind of believe they will succeed in staying in the Bundesliga.So I'm going to bet this one for Hamburg and say byebye to Kaiserslautern and their  boring football with no goals.

Bayern is back.

14 goals in the last two games. Bayern is back. Or is it? The game they are playing reminds of the way they were playing in the beginning of the season. 7-0 against Freiburg on the 5th round, and 7-0 against Basel in the Champions League game. There is a similarity, not only in the results, but the way they are performing. The attacking players are playing with joy, and must be full of confidence. That makes Bayern a very hard team to beat at the moment.

There is still five points difference between the two top teams, but that is not enough for Dortmund to start slacking. Bayern is coming strong now, but are they able to keep on going? Dortmund hasn't been showing too many signs of slowing down, but there is the game between Bayern and Dortmund which will be crucial in the battle for the championship. Mönchengladbach and Schalke aren't too far behind, but both teams performances haven't been too impressive in the last rounds. So it really seems that it's going to be Bayern or Dortmund. And it's going to be tight. The question is, will Bayern play like this until the end.

If Bayern and Dortmund are playing good so are a few other teams as well. Looks like Mainz players have finally started to play as a team and Tuchel can breath a little easier. After the Christmas break only one defeat, and the position in the table is steadily rising. Also Augsburg has climbed up from the bottom and it seems they are getting away from the relegation battle. Of course they are still in the danger zone, but if I had to guess the three last teams would be from these four teams: Kaiserslautern, Hertha, Freiburg, Hamburg.

What is left to be said of the last two rounds in this blog is of course two words: Teemu Pukki. It's great to see him play more than 15 minutes per game again. And to see him play well is even more great. Two goals in the last two games show that Pukki is in Gelsenkirchen to stay, and hopefully will play in an even bigger role next season. Alexander Ring finally made the debut in the Bundesliga. There's not much to be said about his performance, but it's a delight to see two young Finnish players in action.

No good Finland

As I don't remember anything else than Mainz crushing Kaiserslautern last weekend, I'll talk about the Bundesliga players in Austria - Finland friendly. Once again the Finnish national team showed that it doesn't really matter how you play if you make a few mistakes. And if you don't even play good, mistakes just make your game kind of ridiculous.

In the friendly both teams were playing boring football. Austria was trying to hold on to the ball and actually play without really succeeding in it. At least the first half was even, both teams having only a few opportunities. Austria managed to score with help from the Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky. In the first half Pukki was the only Finnish player who was able to create anything, but he was too alone and tried to create chances from nothing. I think his problem in the national team is that he tries too hard. He has now played 9 caps without scoring and it seems to be pressuring up for him.

I'd say Pukki was the only one from the Finnish starting 11 that deserves even a (4) in kicker marks. Ring was awful throughout the whole game. He wasnt able to pass the ball to his teammates and was a step behind in every challenge. Id rate him with a 5,5 or 6. I'm not surprised he hasn't gotten a chance in the Mönchengladbach team with that kind of performance. Let's hope this was only one game and that he will get his chance in the Galdbach squad soon. But then he really has to improve and show what he really can do on the pitch. The third player in the Finnish team who plays in Germany, in the second Bundesliga, is Timo Furuholm. He was the only Finnish goalscorer in the game,and it was a beautiful goal. He actually came in on the 86th minute and scored immediately. He also had a scoring chance before the actual goal, so he's looking more and more promising, even for the starting eleven. I don't know much about his performances in Fortuna Düsseldorf, but at least he has played in three games. According to the stats he has been playing decently, and  hopefully he will continue in doing so.

Let's talk about the Austrians then. I'd say there were two players who almost dominated in the game against Finland. David Alaba and Julian Baumgartlinger were clearly the two best on the field. Alaba was super in bringing the ball forward and his technique is very good for a defender or defensive midfielder. I think Bayern are going to get a world class player of him, when he gets just a little older and gains experience. Baumgartlinger is a totally different kind of player. He doesn't give up, and I must say he has gotten tougher during the season. I saw him play in Mainz last summer, and I thought he looked promising, but in the game against Finland he was the master of the midfield. I doubt he lost a single challenge during the whole game. He was a big reason for Austria's victory.

Other Austrians didn't impress me at all. Harnik and Ivanschitz both scored one and played ok. They didn't show anything special and at least Harnik's efforts were very weak throughout the game. One of the worst players of the game, if not the worst, was Marco Arnautovic. He has said that he wasn't pleased with his performance, but that he knows that he can do better. I've seen him do better,but that is some time ago. He hasn't been playing good in the Bremen squad for a while now. It has been like in the game against Finland: couldn't pass the ball to the teammates, couldn't win any challenges, technique seemed poor and one free kick that went almost out of the stadium. It certainly is not his season. Maybe the next one. Or maybe he is just too arrogant.