Bundesliga last month before holidays

Judging by the way the nationalelf played yesterday You would think the holidays have already started? I have played beach soccer games in Gran Canaria where the players showed more effort than the mannschaft yesterday. To be fair the English came at them fast and hard and it was a friendly and the weather was not good etc but you can not keep making excuses. The Germans played a good half against Russia in Qualifying but otherwise have not played well this year at all. I was under the impression they were out of their 10 year slump but I am not so sure now? A poor euro cup performance with maybe a few good spots, like the game against Poland was OK and a 20 minute spell againt Portugal but otherwise not that much to write home about? I have no problem with them letting in two golas, in fact i excpect them to allow 2-3 goals a game, but nothing coming forward. i could not count how many bad passes were made in the midfield yesterday? You could see what they were trying to do but they just could not pass accurately, which is something you normally do not say about the national team? Anyhow it was just a friendly and they can noly get better in 2010.

1	Bayer Leverkusen		13		9	1	3		31:15	16		28
2	1899 Hoffenheim (N)		13		9	1	3		34:19	15		28
3	Bayern München (M, P)		13		7	4	2		29:20	9		25
4	Hertha BSC		13		7	3	3		18:16	2		24
5	Hamburger SV		13		7	2	4		20:21	-1		23
6	Borussia Dortmund		13		5	6	2		24:18	6		21
7	Werder Bremen		13		5	5	3		31:24	7		20
8	FC Schalke 04		13		5	5	3		19:12	7		20
9	VfL Wolfsburg		13		5	4	4		28:21	7		19
10	1. FC Köln (N)		13		6	1	6		14:17	-3		19
11	VfB Stuttgart		13		5	3	5		18:17	1		18
12	Eintracht Frankfurt		13		3	4	6		15:23	-8		13
	Hannover 96		13		3	4	6		15:23	-8		13
14	Borussia M'gladbach (N)		13		3	2	8		14:24	-10		11
15	VfL Bochum		13		1	7	5		15:20	-5		10
16	Karlsruher SC		13		3	1	9		12:24	-12		10
17	Arminia Bielefeld		13		1	6	6		12:22	-10		9
18	Energie Cottbus		13		2	3	8		7:20	-13		9

Fr 21.11.08 20:30 Karlsruher SC - Borussia Dortmund -:- (-:-)

I think that Dede is coming back soon, next to Micheal Zorc he probably has played more for Dortmund than anyone else? Dortmund have only lost twice this season, so I will not put any money on a home team win.

Sa 22.11.08 15:30 Bayern München - Energie Cottbus -:- (-:-)

hard to beleive but bayern just may end up being the winter champion the way things are going? they should be well rested since none of the internationals really played on wednesday.

FC Schalke 04 - Borussia M'gladbach -:- (-:-)

Two young players to watch for in this game Manuel Neurer who still may become the german number one expecially after the way Adler played yesterday and Marko Marin who may of been the only player that was not crap yesterday for Germany.

VfL Wolfsburg - VfB Stuttgart -:- (-:-)

The game of the day. Stuttgart should be doing much better this year?

Eintracht Frankfurt - Hannover 96 -:- (-:-)

I would not call this a relegation battle, both teams probably will stay up but they are close to the bottom.

VfL Bochum - Hertha BSC -:- (-:-)

Hertha are having a good year, Voronin seems to be fitting in nicely. If Hertha win this game and the other results work in their favour they will be a Champions league team????

Arminia Bielefeld - Bayer Leverkusen -:- (-:-)

Was Simon Rolfes playing for England yesterday? He made some beautiful passes that kept going to English players. Really nice accurate perfectly weigfed passes. A win should keep Bayer on the top of the table
1. FC Köln - 1899 Hoffenheim -:- (-:-)

why would Loew pick Commper for the national team? Is he better than Andreas Beck or Christoph Janker??? Is it a racial equality thing? Was yesterdays game the first time the German nat team played two "African" players? It is nice to see but neither of them ( Jones or Commper) are very good.

So 23.11.08 17:00 Hamburger SV - Werder Bremen -:- (-:-)

And the game of the week and the only game on Sunday again. Next year or the year after german football will not be as oraganized and precise as it is now. Games will be played at all sorts of different times. That is assuming the Tv deal goes through? I assume this has helped the EPL get a better TV money so maybe it will work for the bundesliga? I am not sure if Diego played against Portugal yesterday or even went to Brazil? ( I know Kaka did and judging by the score won the "superstar" battle against Ronaldo). If so the Sunday kick off is helpful to Bremen. Hamburg is at home so you would excpect them to win, but I have this feeling Bremen will put on a good display since they are due a good game?

The lil darlings of Germany

Finally got to see Hoffenheim play on the weekend and according to the GOLTv commentator ( Ray Hudson, whom I find very entertaining and enthusiastic) Hoffenheim 1899 are everybody's second favourite team in Germany! According to the post's on this group I am not sure if that is true? But they just may be my second favourite team for now. I think I wrote last week that they would be my second favourite team if they scored 5 and conceded three- a la Werder Bremen- well they only scored four and only gave up one goal so a little dissapointing but good enough for me. I also wondered if Ibesivic is going to be the Next Gerd Muller? gerd muller has a phenomenal goal scoring record, he once scored 40 goals in a season in the Bundesliga playing 34 games and this is when the bundesliga was at it's peak. German top scorer: 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, oddly enough he was only German footballer of the year twice which just may be a reflection on how good the league was back in the 70's? Anyhow, Ibisevic is probably not as deadly accurate in the box as Muller but he is not that bad either? So what are my impressions of Hoffenheim? You get the feeling that this is a tight knit group, they seem to be very supportive of each other and play a very selfless style of play. They have enough skill players who seem to have a lot of confidence i.e Defender Andreas Beck made a nice behind the back sort of move ( A move i like to do myself) kind of like Cryuff used to do, but while coming out of defence. It was not a big deal but it does show the kind of confidence this team has and as Tottenham Hotspurs have shown recently a team playing with confidence is better than a team with skilled players ( though not always). So yes i do like Hoffenheim and I hope they are succesful and become the next Bayern Munchen.

Tabelle

Pl.	Verein		Sp.		g.	u.	v.		Tore	Diff.		Pkte.
1	1899 Hoffenheim (N)		11		8	1	2		31:16	15		25
2	Bayer Leverkusen		11		8	0	3		26:11	15		24
3	Bayern München (M, P)		11		6	3	2		25:17	8		21
4	FC Schalke 04		11		5	5	1		17:8	9		20
5	Hamburger SV		11		6	2	3		17:18	-1		20
6	Borussia Dortmund		11		4	6	1		19:16	3		18
7	Hertha BSC		11		5	3	3		15:15	0		18
8	Werder Bremen		11		4	4	3		28:23	5		16
9	VfL Wolfsburg		11		4	4	3		23:18	5		16
10	VfB Stuttgart		11		5	1	5		16:15	1		16
11	1. FC Köln (N)		11		5	1	5		11:13	-2		16
12	Eintracht Frankfurt		11		3	3	5		13:17	-4		12
13	Hannover 96		11		3	3	5		13:20	-7		12
14	Karlsruher SC		11		3	0	8		9:20	-11		9
15	VfL Bochum		11		1	5	5		14:19	-5		8
16	Arminia Bielefeld		11		1	5	5		12:20	-8		8
17	Borussia M'gladbach (N)		11		2	1	8		10:22	-12		7
18	Energie Cottbus		11		1	3	7		6:17	-11		6

Fr 31.10.08 20:30 Bayer Leverkusen - VfL Wolfsburg 2:0 (0:0)

Another good result for Leverkesen I think they can keep Bayern behind thenm until the Winter break and maybe longer?

Sa 01.11.08 15:30 Bayern München - Arminia Bielefeld 3:1 (1:1)

Bayern is already in 3rd place after being mid table just a few weeks ago? Borowski seem to be starting now.

Werder Bremen - Hertha BSC 5:1 (3:0)
Did not get to see this game but I bet Diego and pizarro were back ( they were) and maybe just maybe the Werder mid season melt down is over? If they score 5 against panathanaikos I will beleive it.

VfB Stuttgart - 1. FC Köln 1:3 (0:1)

Stuttgart are really going down like a Lead Zeppelin!

Hannover 96 - Hamburger SV 3:0 (2:0)

Hamburg like to lose by this score it seems? They have conceded more goals than they scored as well. They do have a chance in the UEFA cup and i would concentrate more on that then the Bundesliga if it were my team?

Energie Cottbus - FC Schalke 04 0:2 (0:0)

got to give Schalke an A for consistency and defending, but beating Cottbus 2-0 is not a big deal.
1899 Hoffenheim - Karlsruher SC 4:1 (1:1)

k
Karlsruhe came out flying but were not good enough for a hoffenheim team that took control of the game after 20 minutes. I hope to see Hoffenheim play again soon.

So 02.11.08 17:00 Borussia Dortmund - VfL Bochum 1:1 (1:1)

i can not remeber if i picked this as my upset of the week????

Borussia M'gladbach - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:2 (1:1)

A big jump to keep frankfurt out of the relegation zone.