The Outsiders' Edge

So, since my last article the Bundesliga has gone through more changes than a Lady Gaga live show and yielded some results that were frankly far more shocking than anything she has ever done. There was the closure of the transfer window, the  humbling of some big boys and a whooping 39 goals in just 9 matches that took us up to the international break on Friday 3rd September.

The matches kicked off with another Friday showdown for Bayern Munich in their first away game of the season. This time they were against new boys, FC Kaiserlautern. Munich started brightly and were pushing hard for an early goal which should have come courtesy of Thomas Muller who was set free inside the box thanks to some fine team play but he failed to convert the opportunity.

There was no doubt that Bayern were dominating but Kaiserlautern were playing strong counter attack football and they opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a high drive into the corner by Ivo Ilicevic. The home fans were ecstatic and thanks to some high adrenaline racing through their veins the boys added another within a minute thanks to Srdjan Lakic.  2-0!

Although the second half brought more Bayern pressure they seemed to lack the spark in front of goal and couldn’t get their act together and the big lavish Bavarian stars crashed to their first defeat of the campaign.

On Saturday it was a battle of the numbers as Schalke 04 played host to Hannover 96. This should have been a relevatively easy affair for the home team but as we all know, affairs can get messy- just ask the England team.

Hannover’s manager is Mirko Slomka, a man that was recently dismissed by Schalke. This was his first trip back to the Vetlins Arena since he received his marching orders and it was one for him to cherish for many moons to come.

Schalke started well and had a goal disallowed as the corner that preceded Jefferson Farfan’s attempt was judged to have gone out of play en route to his head. Raul showed some sparkle and backheeled to set up German-born, U.S international Jermaine Jones, who squandered the chance.

It was Hannover who took the lead however when Konstantin Rauch placed the ball past German Number 1, Manuel Neuer. After half-time, Hannover doubled their lead thanks to Abdellaoue converting a rebound.

Schalke looked out of sorts but with 10 minutes to go, the controversial Jones  (he once told a German sports mag that he hoped there were no gay players in the Bundesliga) pulled one back. However, it was all too little too late as Schalke kept up their 100% losing streak this season.

New signing Diego shone on his return to the Bundesliga but he couldn’t help his new boss (comedy character Steve McClaren) get his first league win with Wolfsburg as they threw away a 3 goal lead to lose 3-4 on home soil to 1. FSV Mainz.

Werder Bremen beat sorry 1. FC Koln 4-2 and that scoreline does not incidate the dominance Bremen had. On this evidence Cologne really need to pull their socks up or they will be the next big German city without a team in the Bundesliga.

At the other end of the table, Hamburger SV are looking good for a strong finish and a possible title challenge this season after a convincing away win against Frankfurt with that man van Nistelrooy showing even in his advancing years he has much to offer.

In the other Saturday afternoon game, Freiburg beat Nurnberg 2-1 away from home.

Saturday evening brought St. Pauli hosting Hoffenheim. Both teams played attacking football from the off (proving this ain’t Italy) and each had a number of chances but couldn’t convert them due to some good goalkeeping and poor finishing. Hoffenheim eventually got the winner with just 3 minutes of the 90 to go thanks to an Isaac Vorsah strike off the back of a corner. A bitter blow for the Hamburgers of St. Pauli.

On Sunday there was a 9, yes count them, NINE, goal thriller between Bayern Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach (try saying that after one too many).

Home boys Leverkusen struggled after European exploits earlier in the week and their defence showed more holes than a pair of Kurt Cobain’s jeans. Despite bringing Ballack and Hyypia into the staring line up they couldn’t prevent themselves going into the break 3-1 down. The second half was no better and after just 10 minutes of the second half they found themselves 3 goals behind. Vidal scored a penalty to bring it back to 4-2 but then Monchengladbach made it 6-2 in the next 10 minutes before Kiessling scored a consolation in the 70th to make it 6-3  and that is how it ended.

The last game of the weekend featured Borussia Dortmund travelling to Stuttgart and winning comfortably. Stuttgart got off to the worst possible start as the human liablity that is Khalid Boulahrouz put a Marcel Schmelzer cross into his own net. Then on the 26th minute Lucas Barrios made it two, thanks to a poor clearance by Georg Niedermeier and by half time it was 3-0 to Dortmund due to a mix up between Ulreich and Niedermeier. Stuttgart got better in the second half but could only claw back 1 goal courtesy of Cacau. It ended 3-1.

Here are the big incoming transfers before the window closed at the end of the business day on August 31st:

Diego: Juventus to Wolfsburg- €15.5m

Klass Jan Huntelaar: Milan to Schalke- €14m

Gylfi Sigurdsson: Reading to Hoffenheim €8.9m

DaMarcus Beasley: Rangers to Hannover 96- Free

Mauro Camoranesi: Juventus to Stuttgart- Free

Mickeal Silvestre: Arsenal to Werder Bremen- Free

For all those statos out there who want to know the details that most find dull head over to the Bundesliga site at: www.bundesliga.de. Don’t stress it can be put in to English.

See you after the International break.

Mark.

www.soundcloud.com/popcampaign.

~ by globalcorrespondent on September 13, 2010.

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