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.

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.

Finns on fire

I just have to praise the Finns on their performances in the friendly games.

First of all it happened: Alexander Ring got loaned to Mönchengladbach, and I'm quite sure he's there to stay. But the weird thing is he has scored three goals in two friendly games even though he isn't supposed to be a goal scorer. As I have stated out earlier he has a good shot and he has scored a few times during the last season, but the goals have come as a surprise - even for himself I'd figure. He has proven that he has joined the team with the right attitude. The attitude makes him such a good player, and that is one crucial thing that is so different about him compared to other finnish players. But the fact is, like he said himself, he is not exactly finnish. The attitude and the way of playing definitely comes from his youth years in Leverkusen's youth teams. He has proved himself useful and we might see him on the pitch quite soon. Maybe even in a week.

Schalke hasn't been performing too good in the friendlies, but then again the games are not so important. The great thing is, that Teemu Pukki has answered for most of Schalkes goals. It's hard to tell without actually having seen the games of how the players actually played, but at least Pukki has scored more than the other strikers, and that can only be a good thing. Pukki has said that he is happy about the first months in Schalke and that it has gone better than expected, but shows a good attitude in saying that he wants to maintain the same level.

There has even come a third finnish player to Germany. Timo Furuholm transferred into Fortuna Düsseldorf from Inter Turku out of the blue and with good luck he will be playing Bundesliga next year, as the Düsseldorfers are leading the 2. Bundesliga for now. In any case the flow of finnish players to Germany is more than amazing, and seeing them perform well makes even a pessimist finnish football fan get excited and dream of better results for the national team too. The greatest thing in all this is that Finland hasn't had good strikers ever (if we don't count Jari Litmanen as one), but now its starting to look better.

Finally I can't ignore Wolfsburg's  actions on the transfer market during the Christmas break. They have bought eight players, and three have left. I've regarded Magath and his actions weird this season, but it seems he is really desperate. I have no clue of the new players, but if he's trying to build a winning team for this season with those players he's more dumb as it has seemed before. I have thought during the fall season that Wolfsburg plays like a team who's gonna drop into the second league. Now I could even bet money on it. Magath seems to have lost it and the first games are going to show how the break has worked for him. If and when it's going to go bad for Wolfsburg I suggest they sack Magath immediately. They have bought so many players that someone else could actually make the best with the new players.

First half done

The christmas is gone and the games are on pause. It's still hectic among the teams and especially inside the tranfer market. Especially Schalke bought an interesting player, Obasi from Hoffenheim. People might think why do they need one more striker, especially when Obasi has only scored three goals this season. After looking at his stats I can say that I understand why he was bought, but I'm quite sure he won't be scoring too many goals. He might prove useful against tougher teams as he is quite strong and wins a lot of his challenges. I'm quite confident that he won't be threatening Pukki's game time as he is a totally different kind of a player. I think that Schalke wants to secure their offensive play and keep their material broad, in case someone else than Farfan gets injured.

Now to the breaking news. It seems another Finnish player is joining a Bundesliga team. Alexander Ring, who has lived in Germany as a youngster is almost certain to transfer to Borussia Mönchengladbach. As I've seen him play and develop this season I can say that if not immediately next season he is going to be an important player and hopefully play a big role in Mönchengladbach's team. Ring is young but exceptionally mature as a player. Of course he makes mistakes, but his attitude on the field is superb. He just doesn't give up and plays every situation until the end. He is the most promising player of Finnish football and together with Pukki they make a great duo that can bring the Finnish national team a long way. Ring has also a great shot and decent passing, so if he will join the Mönchengladbach squad he will be also of use -already this season.

Enough of the Finnish players for now and lets concentrate on the league. The last round proved crucial for a few teams. I think you can say that Leverkusen and Werder Bremen lost their chances to the trophy because of their losses on the last round. Both teams were unable to score any goals. Leverkusen lost to Nürnberg which is one of the worst teams in the league and with 11 points to the top Leverkusen has no chance of reaching Bayern anymore. Werder proved that it just isn't powerful enough to compete with the strong tems in the league. Sure Pizarro can score against the teams in the end of the table but against Schalke he was not even a slight dangerous. So the table shows that there are four teams that still reach for the title, Bayern being the favorite of course in the second half of the season. There are still a lot of matches to be played and as the last matches by the bavarians showed it is not obvious that they will win. Especially the games against Schalke, Mönchengladbach and Dortmund will be crucial when the champion will be decided. Of course the teams in places two, three and four are playing also against each other which all play a big role too. If I would have to put my money on one team I would definately say that Bayern will win the Bundesliga. But I think Dortmund has improved a lot since the start of the league and is my next choice for the first place. Here you can make your own calculations and predict who'll win: http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/spieltag/1-bundesliga/2011-12/18/tabellenrechner.html

At the moment as the league is on a break the most exciting thing is to see if Alex Ring really will be transferred. But one thing is for sure, he will leave from HJK now or at latest next summer. And probably to Germany, since he knows the ways and the language. So I'm sure that we can enjoy his performances in the Bundesliga in the future.

COFACE and Glühwein

Last Saturday was the day to enjoy Mainz at its best. A little below ten degrees with sun 
shining. On the top of that Mainz against Hamburg. Not the top game of the league but 
good entertainment. I have to say that COFACE arena is cosy and full of atmosphere. All 
the 34.000 people were cheering for the 05 to win. They succeeded in being the better 
team for sure, but just couldn't score. I expected a lot more from Hamburg, especially 
having seen their game two weeks back, but anything they can be praised of are their 
fans, who made a lot of noise. Mainz showed a lot of character and only made one big 
mistake this time, which the hamburgers couldn't make use of. The 05'ers were better 
throughout the game though, and should've kept the three points in Mainz.


On this blog you can't have a round without hearing from Teemu Pukki if he scores. The 
fin played a solid game and scored the winning goal. I haven't looked at the stats but 
Pukki was not only good in scoring situations but also able to create chances and most 
importantly in passing the ball to his teammates. He is really finding his place in the 
team and with it his confidence is rising. He has now proven his talent and showed his 
scoring abilities. No doubt he earned to be in the starting eleven and with these kind of performances he is going to start even more matches on the field. Schalke's performance 
wasn't superb, but solid enough to make them climb up to the third place in the table.


Worrying for Schalke supporters is the fact that S04 havent been playing great, at least not against their biggest rivals. On this saturday the top game is Schalke-Bremen and both really want to win to keep a smallest possible distance to the top of the table. I'ts Schalke's home game so they are a slight favorite, but Pizarro in form Bremen will make the best for Schalke not to succeed. It's looking like a very tight game and seems like a draw, but could go either way. I might put my money on the draw, and hope that they will score a lot of goals.


It is the last round before the christmas brake and all the teams will sertainly give all they have at this point and go celebrate christmas after a win. In my book there still are a few games in which the outcome seems certain beforehand. The opening game of the round is Bayern-Köln which, in spite of the odd, almost certainly a home win. Not the betters first choice in games but I'm sure Bayern will crush Solbakken's crew. Köln doesn't simply have a chance in this one. After seeing Hamburg last week, and concidering Augsburgs improving performances I have to say that Augsburg might win this one. In my book it's at least a draw. The most certain result is going to be Leverkusens win against Nürnberg. Derdiyok and the whole Dutt's squad really played under their level against Hannover and now they must win to prevent the top getting too far. The last game is Wolfsburg-Stuttgart that I am curious about is Wolfsburg-Stuttgart. I still don't have any faith in Magath and I'd say they are playing on a level that is on the bottom of the league at the moment. They have been fairly ok at home, but I still have trouble seeing them getting more than one point from this game.

Is it over for Werder?

Werders last week performance was a big disappointment for many fans and at least for me a big surprise. 5-0 against Mönchengladbach doesn't leave much questions to be asked. M'gladbach has proven quite good a group this season, but I doubt that it will last until the end of the season. Back to Bremen. After their shock defeat there came even worse news. Claudio Pizarro, who has been the big reason for Werders success is going to be away from their strength for a month. The Peruvian has scored 11 goals in 12 games and he became the all time most scoring foreign player in the Bundesliga. Pizarro's 11 goals is almost half of goals his team has managed to score this season (23).

The big question that's left to ask if there is anyone in the team to fill his boots. Markus Rosenberg showed good form in the pre-season matches, but has been sitting on the bench more than playing on the field. Maybe he will get his chance now, but I doubt his ability to keep up with Pizarro's scoring rate. Another player which I personally would expect to pick up his game is Marko Arnautovic. He hasn't been playing bad in the matches I've seen and he has also gotten his temper under control. I have expected more from him, and I think he has the potential, but just has to fully concentrate in playing the game. Now would be a great time to show what he is capable of, because someone has to score the goals while Pizarro is gone.

The other big news last round, if we don't concentrate on the sad news, was Bayerns defeat against Dortmund. The match didn't give too much for the audience, and sometimes it was actually quite boring as the teams concentrated on defending. Götze was able to score from a situation that should've been cleared by the Bayern defence. The good thing in that was, that the excitement in the champion race stayed close, and the bavarians now only lead by two points.

On the next round Dortmund is playing against Schalke 04. That is a big match for both teams and both need points to stay in the race for the cup. Huntelaar showed who's the number one striker in his team as Schalke had no difficulties against Nürnberg. Pukki got to play too, which is always positive, but he didn't have to prove anything as his team was already leading by three as he got on. Wolfsburgs win over Hannover was almost a shock especially as Magaths men have been playing so poorly. Maybe this was a turning point, but next round game against Augsburg will show if Magath has found the right direction. When we talk about the top teams the focus in my book lies on Werder next round. Can they forget about the last game? And are they able to perform without Pizarro? It's a little hasty to give predictions on the basis of one game and one injury, but I'm still gonna say that this will be the turning point in Werders season. One team doesn't make a team, but sometimes it can be crucial. We'll see Pizarros worth for Bremen, and how they play without him.