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.

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.