December 06th, 2015

What a weekend of football. Unexpected wins, Leicester keep on rolling and Mönchengladbach on fire. Is this what football is about? It might be. 

As a fan of German football I love it when another team than Bayern win a game in which Bayern play. This was the case yesterday in a game where Bayern completely dominated the first 50 minutes versus Mönchengladbach, but Borussia managed to win 3-1 through Oscar Wendt, Stindl and Fabian Johnson before Ribery reduced the lead to 3-1. It was an intense game, and a very nice one, but was only one of a few.  Hertha Berlin beat Bayer Leverkusen in a intense game at the Olympic stadium and my favourite player, midfielder Vladimir Darida scored the opener, before the ever-reliable Chicharito equalized. The American centre back John Anthony Brooks scored later on however, and now Berlin are fourth in the Bundesliga table, which is the biggest surprise of the season in Bundesliga. 

As the Bundesliga is seen as a league without excitement, a generic and boring opinion to be fair, it is always a thrill to seethe dominant Bayern lose. Especially when they are being outsmarted by the opposition, as was the case this weekend. However, when a team is as dominant as Bayern usually are, we need to look beyond the battle for "die Schale" and take a look at the relegation battle, the race for Champions League or even the battle for top tier footballl in the second division. If we manage to look beyond Bayern's dominance, Bundesliga is the tightest league in Europe and the second division is joint top. 

Hahohe. Hertha. Right, what makes Berlin so great this season? What makes them play good football and win games that they perhaps shouldn't win? There's a mixture of different factors. Great signings is one, the manager is another. Their way of playing football fits the team the manager Dardai has amassed perfectly, with Darida as the catalyst in midfield and Ibisevic and Kalou as reliable goalscorers up top. They seem to be playing with two box-to-box midfielders, Skjelbred and Darida, which gives them good stability in defence as well as in attack. It also enables good transition when it is needed. 

In other news, Leicester keep on winning, Celta Vigo are placed fourth in La Liga, Chelsea keep losing and Aston Villa have still only own one game in 15. Naja, have a good week. There's European football soon so we have something special to look forward to. 

Tschüss!

Axel Falk, Editor.