The wall from Finland

What is happening with the world? What is going wrong in Bayer? Pep Guardiola must have pissed his pants or something. Four games in two weeks and only two victories? WHAT IS GOING ON?

I'll tell you what's going on. First it was Wenger and the Gunners who made Bayern look like a bunch of orienteers who couldn't find their way to the goal. Then again this Friday the men from München stomped on a wall from Finland. Named Lukas Hradecky.

Before the game on Friday the Finnish press wrote that Hradecky has a chance to really show his talent and make an impression to the German football community if he plays well against the Bavarians. I could've bet my life savings against Frankfurt. Not because of Hradecky but because of the fact that the wieners (Frankfurters) had conceded 17 goals in the last 10 matches whereas Bayern had scored 33 times in the same amount. And if someone doesn't know Bayern had won all of their games so far in the Bundesliga. But no, not this time. The Eintracht fans witnessed something extraordinary - bavarians who couldn't score. And even if Hradecky wasn't the man of the match he made a few pretty important saves and was able to fill the shoes of Kevin Trapp who I myself regard as the second best keeper in Germany.

As "Luke" is the only Finnish player playing in the Bundesliga this year it's about time to write about him.

Hradecky never played for the Finnish Veikkausliiga (the top level of Finnish football) before he transferred to Denmark, to Esbjerg fB. He didn't seem that promising in his youth years even though he played for the Finnish youth national team. Even in the Finnish national team he has secured his place as the number one keeper only in the last qualifications. He has sometimes seemed as a keeper who has a hard time estimating the ball in crosses and because of that getting in trouble. But he is still fairly young, 25 years old, so he has still time to develop to his peak. And if even if he is not the best in crosses he has lightning-speed reflexes, as you could've witnessed this season. 

On top of this all he is very down to earth and for a guy coming from Turku he has a great sense of humor. I think that even if the Finnish press might be praising a little too much at the moment everyone who watches football can be very proud of him at the moment. And about time we got a decent player in the Bundesliga again, and looks like he is not going to give up his place easily in the future.

It's just the beginning

So the season is underway and the big teams have held their guts. Bayern has been very convincing, but as the last season shows early rounds do not tell the whole truth. Eintracht Frankfurt has been better than expected and they are in the lead alongside Bayern with six points.

From what I've seen this far I could predict a few relegating teams,although it's early. I'd say Greuter Fürth has got a very difficult season in front of them and it's pretty obvious that they will not stay in the league,although they managed to beat Mainz in the second round. Hoffenheim is a team that will be battling for relegation if they don't pick up their game. One scored goal in two matches doesn't promise very much. It seems Ryan Babel is desperately needed in the squad, and maybe he will be enough to change the course. My personal Black Horse Stuttgart has collected zero points so far and are on the last position. The game against Bayern showed that they are not ready to battle for the top positions. I'm sure they will pick up their game as the season goes on. It just has to happen quickly, before the team loses its faith in itself.

From a Finnish point of view the start of the season has been both good and bad. Pukki hasn't got any playtime and it seems that there is not going to be much time for him if there are no injuries, especially now when Afellay joined the Gelsenkircheners. Pukki still showed some good form in the national friendly against Czech republic when he scored the only goal of the game. And not only did he score, but he was able to find his teammates with accurate passes and won many one on one situations as well. Hopefully Huub Stevens will find some use for him in Schalke's attack. Marica has proved himself useless, so that place is to be filled but probably with Afellay.

Good news for the Finns are that Alex Ring has been playing decent minutes in Mönchengladbach shirt and that Hyypiä and Leverkusen got their first win this season. Ring has showed in the few games that he is ready to fight for his place in the opening eleven and is capable of scoring as well as defending tight against anyone. A pity is that Mönchengladbach is nowhere near the team they were last season. But as I said many times before. It's only the beginning.