Bundesliga Match Day 3: Preview and Forecast
- Chuck Smith
- Sep 14, 2018
- 6 min read
The Bayern Munich-Bayer Leverkusen tilt has a number of interesting background themes, but none are more important than the fact that Die Werkself is entering Match day 3 with two losses and no wins.
Leverkusen is a desperate - yet talented - squad, but the road to its first victory has a big, red roadblock by way of Bayern. Leverkusen's lofty offensive potential has not yet found its stride, while Die Roten is seemingly hitting on all cylinders.
With Thomas Muller at the top of his game and looking comfortable operating with Robert Lewandowski and Leon Goretzka, this version of the Bayern squad is offensively more potent than the recent past. Thiago Alcantara's emergence at the "6" as well has injected a steady and dangerous presence at that spot.
It is not going to be easy for Leverkusen and we're looking at Heiko Herrlich's team to be 0-0-3 (three losses) after this weekend.
Interestingly, Julian Brandt has emerged as a player that is transitioning from Bayern's "would be nice to have" list to its "we need this player" list. Aside of his solid performances for Leverkusen, Brandt has established himself as strong - and possibly leading - candidate to be Germany's next great winger.
That alone, puts him on Bayern's radar, but what he offers - a next generation winger for the club - is exactly what they will need next season. Brandt, however, may not be too keen on entering a wing rotation with the likes of Kingsley Coman, Alphonso Davies, and Serge Gnabry in the 2019-2020 season.
Brandt's standing among German talent won't help him this week. On Match Day 3, Brandt will only have one mission and that will be extremely hard to accomplish with the likes of Leon Bailey, Kevin Volland, Lucas Alario, Kai Havertz, Jonathan Tah, and Mitchell Weiser surrounding him.
Prediction: Bayern Munich 3, Bayer Leverkusen 1
Borussia Dortmund 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 2: Borussia Dortmund (should have enough offensive firepower to offset Eintracht in this one (this piece of text got mangled in the web app and was updated).
For Die Adler, Match Day 2 brought on a disappointing loss to Werder Bremen. With Mijat Gacinovich and Ante Rebic banged up, Eintracht Frankfurt will have to relay on the likes of Sebastian Haller, Nicolai Muller, and Luka Jovic to generate offense against a susceptible BVB defense. It wouldn't be shocking if Eintracht Frankfurt pulled the upset here, but Dortmund should have enough power to hand Die Adler another loss.
Wolfsburg 2, Hertha Berlin 2: The Wolves and Hertha Berlin have been the surprise teams of the Bundesliga after two weeks. Both are undefeated, both appear to be headed in the right direction, and this week, they'll square off. It is still quite difficult to know of either team is capable of being a long-term contender this season or if both will eventually fall back into mediocrity. This week, we're really not expecting many questions to be answered.
Hoffenheim 3, Fortuna Düsseldorf 1: Julian Naglesmann's crew is gearing up for the Champions League and a let down against Die Flingeraner would be a big step backward. Hoffenheim, however, seems like it has gotten bearings after a rugged match against Bayern Munich on Match Day 1 and should be able to handle Fortuna pretty easily. Adam Szalai has been a force thus far and it will be interesting to see if Nagelsmann can find a way to use both Szalai and Andrej Kramaric to power the offensive without stepping on each other's production.
RB Leipzig 2, Hannover 96: 1: There may be no team more in need of a win than RB Leipzig right now. With a loss to Dortmund and a tie against Fortuna Düsseldorf, Leipzig has not lived up to its potential by any stretch. Worse, Ralf Rangnick has seemingly not figure out how to deploy the squad to achieve anywhere near its potential. As much as it would like to pretend it is a balanced unit, Leipzig is top heavy offensively with a shoddy defense. It should at least play to that strength and take chances offensively. Instead, the squad is mired with inconsistency everywhere and often looks confused on the pitch. Normally, this is the exact type of team that Hannover 96 takes advantage of (and it could still happen), but Leipzig needs to sort itself out and this should be the week that it Die Roten Bullen captures their first win.
FC Augsburg 3, Mainz 1: Augsburg is in a position to really set itself up nicely before it hits a rugged stretch of the schedule. With Mainz this week and a game Werder Bremen squad lined up next week, Augsburg could conceivably head into a showdown with Bayern Munich with no league losses. Augsburg's talent base is solid and has performed well enough to avoid an early loss, but Mainz has been surprisingly pesky thus far. Der Fuggerstädter still hasn't broken out offensively and we think it will happen this week against Die Nullfünfer. Expect Michael Gregoritsch to get his own game headed in the right direction with a good showing.
Schalke 04 3, Borussia Monchengladbach 2: Die Königsblauen is in desperate need of a win after back-to-back dismal showings against Wolfsburg and Hertha Berlin, two of the more average teams in the Bundesliga. It's a huge week for Domenico Tedesco and the Schalke coach will need to get top performances from many of his players, including freshly signed midfielder Sebastian Rudy. Rudy had an uneventful, if disappointing, debut with Schalke and will surely need to be more of a presence if Die Königsblauen is to turn itself around. With the Champions League right around the corner and Schalke finding itself in the imminently winnable Group D, this game against Borussia Monchengladbach has some extra meaning. Aside of its defensive struggles and inability to control midfield play, Schalke has been embarrassingly bad offensively. It is time for Hoffenheim signee, Mark Uth, to show some sign of why Schalke invested in him in the first place.
For its part, M'Gladbach has been solid so far. With a convincing win over Leverkusen and a hard-fought draw with FC Augsburg, Die Fohlen are working to build consistency, which was missing for the extend of the 2017-2018 campaign. With captain Lars Stindl back on the training ground, M'Gladbach could be gearing up for a nice Bundesliga run. A victory over Schalke would go a long way to pushing Die Fohlen into the upper-echelon of the Bundesliga. Thorgan Hazard has been stellar thus far for M'Gladbach, but it will take more than the Belgian forward to offset a hungry and desperate Schalke side.
Werder Bremen 2, FC Nürnberg 1: Nürnberg has been tough and has shown exactly what you want a newly promoted team to show, but Bremen has a good thing going and has been rock solid with a win and a draw thus far. Curiously for Bremen, Bayern loanee Marco Friedl cannot seem to to get on the field after a solid showing in the second half of 2018 for Bremen. In addition, USMNT starlet Josh Sargent is slowly climbing his way up Werder Bremen's ranks as well. Both of those young players could eventually slide into contributing roles as this squad improves. Until then, however, Bremen will just keep playing a solid brand of soccer that is producing good results.
VfB Stuttgart 2, SC Freiburg 1: It seems very early in the season for a "do-or-die" game, but these two squads are both in desperate need of a sign of life. Stuttgart has the better roster of the two at this stage, but Freiburg really shouldn't be a push over. A loss here could make Freiburg's hole a bit deeper as it is slowly becoming one of the frontrunners for relegation. It was this type of start last season that ultimately doomed FC Koln. For Stuttgart, the likes of Mario Gomez, Benjamin Pavard, and Holger Badstuber need to step their respective games up. Stuttgart has not scored in its last three competitive games (DFB Pokal and Bundesliga), so this should be the week the team finally gets on the league scoreboard and the win column.
Last week's record: 2-7
Season record: 8-10
Note: Predicted ties count as a win if correct and as a loss if there is a winner; conversely if a game is predicted to have a winner but ends in a tie, it will count as a loss.
Random Entertainment Thoughts
I am working my way through Ozark Season 2 and am loving it. I am will post a review once I am through it. I get the criticisms of the show and how it follows a similar theme to Breaking Bad, but it is interesting and captures my attention.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia kicked off its 13th season and the first two episodes have been very good. Maybe not quite the level of some of the hilarity of the past (so far anyway), but The Gang is definitely bringing its A-Game to show. It really never disappoints.
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