I must be the only one currently online to be watching the Bundesliga this morning but the game's been interesting so far. It's halftime in the game between Frankfurt - Bremen. The game has turned into something of a slugfest (ala Netherlands-Portugal 2006). Diego was given a straight red in the 40th for bodychecking Frankfurt's Kyrgiakos. There've been 4 yellows (two for each team) in addition to Diego's red and a whole bunch of other not-very-nice fouls.

In other games of note in the Bundesliga, it's scoreless between Schalke and Leverkusen (poor Adler's hurt!). Stuttgart lead Karlsruhe 2-0 in what I think is a local derby (need to check a map for that). Bayern and Hamburg play in the Sunday game.

Well, the Frankfurt-Bremen game continued to be generally ill-tempered, but Frankfurt got the win courtesy of a goal from Amanatidis (dst, lots of Greek players on the Frankfurt team) and some very good goalkeeping.

Stuttgart beat Karlsruhe 3-1, with goals from Gomez, Hilbert, and Cacau.

And Leverkusen beat Schalke 1-0, with a goal from Friedrich. There was a red in injury time for Schalke's Jermaine Jones for a nasty foul on Kiessling.

Neuer is really out of form. Schalke was defending very poor but Friedrichs cross/shot was one Neuer had to have. But I'm happy with Leverkusen winning.

Amanatidis showed a nice performance again, great finishing against Wiese.

Stuttgart won over surprise team Karlsruhe and they're back in the race for the UEFA Cup spots. Gomez scored his 11th goal in his 16th match. That guy is a striker a striker a striker.

Bayern-Hamburg today. 16:00 UK.

I hope Klose, Toni, Altintop and co give them a lesson.
Ribery will be back, though Hitzfeld said he doesn't know if he'll play.

Hamburg used to be Bayerns most feared opponent in 1 on 1. Bayern couldn't win against them in the last 2 years and Hamburg won the last two games in the Allianz Arena. If Bayern wins, they'd almost be through for the Meisterschaft. As I can't stand Bayern I'll cheer for Hamburg.

Oh and, Mario Gomez wants to become the new Zlatan as it seems. After Stuttgarts match against Karlsruhe he insulted KSC defender Maik Franz (with whom he had some hefty duels) "This unfair @sshole is being covered by the refs."

No VDV for Hamburg, but no Ribery for Bayern. Game's just started and it's pretty even so far.

(Ack. Lell has bleached his hair. What is it with young German players bleaching their hair? [/girlie comment])

Bayern 0 - 1 Hamburg. Goal Olic in the 60th.

Ribery on for Bayern right after the goal.

EDIT: And Bayern equalize in the 65th. Ze Roberto goal.

FT Bayern 1-1 Hamburg.

Van Bommel sent off in added time for a bad foul immediately followed by a rude gesture to the ref.

After the fantastic 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen Bochum is already 12 points away from the relegation zone. Even without Stanislav Sestak we were able to win against one of the "Pillendreher" from Leverkusen. Thx to great goals by our captain Thomas Zdebel and the mighty goalscorer Christoph "Dabro" Dabrowski.



So the goal for this season is to collect 45 points (says coach Marcel Koller). I say: Uefa Cup...here we come again ! (Hope we won't face Milan there )

Nice going Bochum! It seems you're clear of relegation. How many points are you off the UEFA Cup positions?

You have DWS Investments as your sponsor? We had that for the past 2 years and everybody made fun of us, because it looks like it says 'Cows'.

That pic is from the last season. Our new sponsor is even worse

Kik....a shop for very cheap and bad clothes... Their figurehead is this speaking shirt



And it's still 7 points to the 5th spot, but maybe we can make it to the Intertoto Cup (would be nice in terms of playing in Europe again but then I don't think our team would manage to be good in the Bundesliga with those extra games).

Oh dear, that sponsor really is ugly.

Hopefully you can make it into the InterToto!

In today's Bundeliga games,

Frankfurt 1-1 Bochum
Bayern 2 - 0 Karlsruhe (goals by Toni & Ribery)
Stuttgart 6 - 3 Bremen (hat trick Gomez, 2 from Cacau)

Gomez is even better than last season. He gives Stuttgart that special extra boost that makes them one of the best teams in the Bundesliga. 17 games, 14 goals....that's a nice ratio.

Also I'm happy with the point we got in Frankfurt. They're a very good team and it's hard to win there, even Bremen failed to get a point against Funkels team. Azouaghs freekick was class

Oh dear.

There are some naughty bunnies in Munich.

Bayern has suspended Martin Di Michelis indefinitely for his refusal to play a game against Cottbus (who are, I believe, in last place in the league) in midfield instead of his more usual position in defense.

Suspended indefinitely? Does that mean terminated?

Edit: Never mind, just visited their website. It's not as serious as it looked, but I'm betting he will be offloaded at the end of the season. Germans don't screw around with discipline.

Couple of interesting scorelines at halftime in today's Bundesliga games:

Cottbus 2 - 0 Bayern
Bochum 1 - 0 Stuttgart

Bayern lost to Cottbus.

Today's Bundesliga results:

Wolfsburg 1 - 0 Bremen
Leverkusen 4 - 1 Nuremburg

Kiessling and Gekas were among the Leverkusen goalscorers. Leverkusen are now 3rd in the league.

Poor Werder. Seems they are loosing ground. But I'm positive they'll regain a CL-spot soon. They deserve it.

On the other hand, Bayern got lucky. Their blackout against Cottbus ended up with no serious damage.

Seems that Bayern, like most seasons, has no real contender. But their next match against Bayer Leverkusen might be a real interesting one. Not that Leverkusen might challenge them for the Meisterschaft (after all it's still Bayer leverkusen we're talking about) but they're in top form these days and if Bayern suffers another loss or draw in the Bundesliga things might become really nasty for "General" Hitzfeld and his widely critizised player rotation.

Fanis is slowly regaining his form from the last season. He scored in 4 consecutive matches now and already scored 11 goals in the league. Also he and "Schuh" Kießling are forming a nice partnership upfront.
I have to admit I really like their style to play with these brillant midfielders such as Schneider, Barbarez or Barnetta.

I like watching Leverkusen too (and not just because I like Adler). They're an entertaining team. It'll be interesting to see how they do this season; they're hitting form at a very good time for them.

I bet La Palma is in a good mood right now.

In today's game, the score is Bochum 2 - 0 Dortmund. In the 10th minute.

EDIT: Maybe not quite so good a mood by halftime though. HT: Bochum 3 - 2 Dortmund.

Also at the half: Nurnburg 1 - 0 Bayern

Very strange results this week in the Bundesliga.

Bochum 3 - 3 Dortmund
Nurnburg 1- 1 Bayern
Bremen 1 - 2 Duisberg
Hamburg 1 - 1 Bielefeld
Karlsruhe 0 - 0 Schalke
Leverkusen 0 - 2 Frankfurt

The best a top-5 side did was a draw. None of them actually won.

Forza Bochum!

Bayern 0 - 1 Bochum (8th min)

Lovely goal in the 4th minute by Azouagh.

EDIT: Van Bommel red card in the 27th.

And Bah. Bayern equalize in the 31st. Goal Lucio, header off of a set piece.

Bah again. Bochum handball in the area. Ribery converts the penalty. 2-1 for Bayern in the 74th.

Make that 3-1 for Bayern. Goal Lell in the 88th.

Bochum played well for most of the game. They just couldn't hold on.

Bayern are the sure champs,...it's only a question who will end up 3nd and 3rd - Schalke, Werder or HSV. I'd like Schalke and Werder cause they have Euro-experience so they actually could do a break-through, at least in the first phase..

Amen to that. No one can stop Bayern now. IMO Schalke and Stuttgart will make the other two CL spots. Schalke because they somehow manage to win even when they play the worst football of the Bundesliga and Stuttgart because they're on top form and have Mario Gomez.

Interesting result today.

Werder Bremen 5 - 1 Schalke, including 2 in the second half from Ivan Klasnic. Bremen just blew 'em away.

(For La Palma: Bochum 1 - 1 Berlin.)

Schalke have sacked head coach Mirko Slomka.

Apparently it was going to happen anyway at the end of the season but yesterday's result -- a hammering at the hands of Bremen -- sped it up.

Willy Sagnol is finally back playing for Bayern, even though it looks like he's playing in midfield.

In any event, Bayern are thrashing Dortmund. It's 2-0 in the 8th minute with goals from Podolski (who got the start over Klose) and Ze Roberto.

EDIT: 12 minutes later and it's 4-0, courtesy of 2 goals from Luca Toni.

Bayern 4-0 by the 23rd min.

Anyone knows how many goals Toni has scored this season?

I think it's now at 30 or 31 if you count league + cup + UEFA Cup games for Bayern.

Oh yeah we definitely didn't need any of that.

We are fine as we are

Good news for Schalke. Slomka was incompetent and never would have made anything more then finishing 3rd. He had his chance last season, were his team had to win and he blew it. Now they need a modern coach with a fresh apprach.

"A posto così."

Slomka beeing fired is a bad decision by Schalke IMO. They're just too stupid. And that's what friends of mine who are hardcore Schalke fans also say.
Schalke wasn't playing good football recetnly...sure. But with that team no coach would have been able to play more impressive football. Since Lincoln left in front of the season Schalke has no one who's able to control a game, no one with creativity. Of course they play horrible football!
The fact that they're still on third place and made it to the quarterfinals of the CL is the best argument for Slomka. But now Schalke will end up in chaos again...as always.

Toni scored his 18th league goal so far. Hope the Bayern- Dortmund clash won't be as boring as it was today when they play each other in the DFB Cup final...

True. But try look at it the other way. Slomka had a perfect chance of wining the title last season and blew it. He stayed indeed some critics. This season he's struggling with even finishing 3rd. Schalke have to make their goals clear. If they wanna be a real "Bayernverfolger" they have to appoint a new coach. Slomka just isn't up to the job.

Creativity? Hmh,..the had Özil, they have Rakitic. I don't think their problem is creativity. Look at the Barca match. They've created many good chances. The real problem is their attack, they're simply wasting chances after chances. And of course this guy named Mladen Krstajic who's been one of the worst defenders in Germany. Don't get why he's even around that team.

The attack is another huge problem for Schalke of course but the creativity in midfield is one too. Özil had to be sold since he's an arrogant child who doesn't know how to behave (Plus, he's beeing controlled by his manager). And Rakitics form isn't as fine as it was in the first half of the season while Streit has the same problem.
And Schalke can't expect to make 3rd place with this team, as teams like Stuttgart and Leverkusen seem to have a squad which might even be slightly better than Schalkes.

Another news from the Bundesliga is that Hamburg apparently wants to sign Gerrard Houilier as new coach. WOuld be an interesting choice...

Very interesting. He was one of the contenders for the Bayern throne often mentioned..

If HSV really select him it could get interesting. The Bundesliga lacks of good coaches anyway,..

Hmmm...I think the situation was much worse a few years ago as there's some coaches I really like. Hitzfeld of course (no need to mention his class), Huub Stevens is good too (although his football isn't the most beautiful) and of course Bremens Thomas Schaaf and Wolfsburgs Felix Magath. May be I'm a bit biased but our coach in Bochum, Marcel Koller, is a well tactician as well. He really knows what he's doing unlike some other coaches in the Bundesliga like Dortmund Thomas Doll (complete joke) or Bielefelds Michael Frontzeck.
Can't wait to see Klinsi as Bayerns head coach next season though. I'm so curious whether he'll do a job as good close to that what he has done for our NT (but I have serious doubts here).

Hmmm...

Well, Hitzfeld belongs to it's own league. He's out of this world, IMO one of the top 5 coaches for the last 20 years.

Then there is Klinsi, young and modern, could also become very good. I do rate Schaaf highly and also Armin Veh. Skibbe, Magath, Koller are nothing special, but are also young and have potential. Huub Stevens is also good, but he's leaving soon to PSV.

Still, besides Hitzfeld, there's no one like Lattek, Zebec or Ribbeck..

There were some midweek games in the Bundesliga today.

Forza Bochum!

They left it til the 88th minute, but Sestak scored the winning goal (away) v. Wolfsburg!

Bremen defeated Hansa Rostock 2-1 with goals from Torsten Frings (he's baaaack, which is good for the German NT) and Ivan Klasnic (whose good form is welcome news to the Croatian NT).

And poor Schalke...NOT. Kevin Kuranyi sure doesn't miss Mirko Slomka. He scored FOUR goals today in Schalke's utter destruction of Energie Cottbus. (final was 5-0).

What a fantastic win! We won 1-0 in Wolfsburg after (another) crappy game...but who cares? We're once and for all clear of the relegation zone and can start planning for another year of Bundesliga football. Thx Stani Sestak, thx Marcel Koller.

Other results:

Schalke - Cottbus 5-0 (Kuranyi started scoring again...3 goals....scary...)

Rostock - Bremen 1-2 (beatiful goal by Torti Frings.....He's packing his bags for the Euro)

Berlin - Hamburg 0-0 (two boring teams...one boring result)

What a season for Luca Toni !!!! The top scorer in the Bundeslega. Also his brace against Getafe.



What's the word in Germany on him LaPalma !? So do the Germans finally approve Italian imports

The word is that he's best striker in league along with GOmez. But that's really obvious. IMO he's the best striker Bayern had in a long time...maybe since Jürgen Klinsmann in the mid 90ies.
With players like him, a rejunivated Zé and of course Franck Ribéry Bayern can finally be a real CL contender again
Media rumours are also linking them to Arsenals Flamini who would certainly be a great choice for their midfield.

FT Arminia Bielefeld 1 - 0 Bayer Leverkusen
FT Borussia Dortmund 1 - 3 Hannover
FT Duisburg 0 - 1 Karlsruhe
FT Stuttgart 3 - 0 Nurnberg
FT Eintracht Frankfurt 1 - 3 Bayern Munich - Bayern were 1 down at the half. An equaliser from van Buyten and a brace from Toni gives Bayern the win.