Bundesliga Match Day 4: Preview and Forecast
Among the attractive fixtures on this week's Bundesliga slate, the Bayern Munich vs. Schalke 04 contest stands out as the league's marquee match-up.
Bayern has been ridiculously good so far this season using its superior depth and talent to overwhelm each of the opponents it has faced, while Schalke has essentially just been the opposite, as we covered here.
Despite the respective records of each team, Schalke has a veteran-laden core that will certainly be ready for Bayern. Former Bayern man Sebastian Rudy will no doubt be eager to face his old mates, but this will not be an easy task for Die Königsblauen. Having earned no points, Schalke is desperate, but it is hard to fathom that Domenico Tedesco's squad will be able to upset Die Roten this week.
Even after a Champions League draw with Porto (which should be viewed as a disappointment), Schalke has a ton of work to do to get moving in the proper direction. Mark Uth finding his scoring touch would be a huge help to the task.
As for Bayern, Die Roten are a team that just keeps on moving forward. Lose Kingsley Coman, Corentin Tolisso, and Rafinha for an extended period of time? No sweat. As crazy as it sounds, losing that much talent and versatility to injuries has not affected Bayern's performance as of yet. With excellent depth and a crazy amount of talent, Bayern is stocked an ready for this tilt.
Niko Kovac has had a way of doing his own thing, but we would hope that Leon Goretzka return to the starting XI to face his old team. Goretzka, Thomas Muller, and Robert Lewandowski had a great chemistry two weeks ago, which would be interesting to see again.
With its own Champions League match this week (a 2-0 victory over Benfica), Bayern's player rotation could be a bit wacky and tough to predict. Regardless, the boys in red should come away from this one with another victory.
Prediction: Bayern Munich 3, Schalke 0.
VfB Stuttgart 2, Fortuna Düsseldorf 1: Stuttgart may have only settled for a draw last week against Freiburg, but Die Schwaben is poised to break out a bit. Mario Gomez had a brace last week and could be set to find the back of the net again. Düsseldorf, to its credit, has been very, very good since being promoted and has shown marked improvement since the season opener. This one should stay tight, but Stuttgart will have enough to pull away in the end.
After making himself a household name in the World Cup Benjamin Pavard hasn't quite been the force we were expecting in the Bundesliga. Pavard is a player, though. and will start to show his quality in the coming weeks. Against Düsseldorf would be an excellent time to start.
FC Augsburg 2, Werder Bremen 2: Augsburg has not quite clicked this season, while Werder Bremen has been quietly very good. Fuggerstädter's offense has been missing for the most part and has struggled without the injured Alfred Finnbogason. Austrian Michael Gregoritsch has not been able to produce as consistently with the additional focus placed on him and Augsburg must find a way to change that if it wants to get headed in the right direction.
Die Werderaner has successfully built off of the momentum that it started to achieve in the second half of last season and will continue to be a hard out for any team in the Bundesliga. How the squad develops over the coming weeks will really show whether Bremen is capable of contending for a top six position or if it will linger back to the middle of the back. This week, we expect Bremen to have a bit of a hard time with a hungry Augsburg side, but not enough to drop a decision.
Borussia Monchengladbach 2, Hertha Berlin 1: M'Gladbach has been stellar three games into the Bundesliga season, but there always seems to be the natural inclination (at least from me) to wonder when the Foals are going to show up and be terrible at the least opportune time. This feels like a good game for Thorgan Hazard to get his first league goal of the season and for Die Fohlen to stay on the winning track.
Hertha has been equally as good as M'Gladbach this season. While not much was expected out of Die Alte Dame coming into the year, the squad has just performed admirably. With seven points over three games, Hertha has earned its right to be listed among the league leaders. Ondrej Duda has paced the Hertha offense with three goals, but it will take more than Duda alone to offset the talent on the other side of the pitch.
Borussia Dortmund 3, Hoffenheim 2: Dortmund's scary 1-0 Champions League victory over Club Brugge was further evidence that BVB has a long way to go this season, but also gave an indication that the team is figuring how to win in a tough situation; a trait that was non-existent last season. We haven't seen the vaunted Dortmund offense really hit its stride as of yet, but with Christian Pulisic back in the lineup, things should start to get a little more exciting for Dortmund.
Julian Nagelsmann would like nothing better than to deny BVB a win her, but Hoffenheim will have its work cut our for it. After a Bundesliga loss to Fortuna Düsseldorf (2-1) and a Champions League draw against Shakhtar Donetsk (1-1), Hoffenheim is building up a little urgency over missed opportunities. Can Nagelsmann bottle that up and have the team focused and ready for Dortmund? We think he can and we think it will be an entertaining game, but we expect Dortmund to have enough gas in the tank to escape with a 'W.'
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Hannover 96 2, FC Nürnberg 1: Hannover is another squad that has not quite found its stride as of yet, but we expect Niclas Fullkrug and the boys to get the win this week over Der Club. Nürnberg is still also trying to find its identity as a team, so this contest is a bit hard to forecast. Given Hannover's past performance in being able to make life hell for its opponents, we expect them to be able to pull this one out.
Wolfsburg 3, SC Freiburg 2: Wolfsburg has been the surprise team of the Bundesliga this season and arguably the most exciting side. With dramatic comebacks, wild goals, and electric performances over the first three weeks of the campaign, the Wolves has started the mission to ditch the perception that they have become a joke...and it's hard to argue that they haven't at least begun to turn things around. American John Brooks has been a stabilizing force on the back line, while the Wolves have used a variety of scorers to keep the opposition off balance. We expect that to continue this week over Freiburg.
Freiburg's offense rose from the dead in its 3-3 draw with Stuttgart last week, but banged up striker Nils Petersen has not been able to get on track. Unless Petersen gets healthy soon and can also find his scoring touch, Freiburg is really going to be in a battle to stay away from relegation.
Bayer Leverkusen 4, Mainz 1: This prediction will likely blow up in my face, but I have to think that Leverkusen is on the verge of figuring things out. Mainz, meanwhile, has frankly over-achieved a bit so far this season. I just can't see that continuing. The young trio of Julian Brandt, Leon Bailey, and Kai Havertz should be putting their talent on full display in this one.
Certainly this prediction looks massively disrespectful to Mainz, but I can't help but feeling they are due for dumpster fire-type game. Nigerian Anthony Ujah has two goals to Mainz, so far this season and he'll have to bring all of the firepower he can muster to keep up with Leverkusen's offensive attack. The good part for Ujah is that Leverkusen has largely been awful on defense this season. Regardless, we just don't think this will be a good week for Mainz.
Eintracht Frankfurt 2, RB Leipzig 2: When taking a quick look at both teams, the talent is there, but the results - for the most part - have been disappointing. Ralf Rangnick has had sme curious rotations and has yet to really maximize the likes of Timo Werner, Emil Forsberg, Yussuf Poulsen, and Jean-Kevin Augustin, while Adi Hutter is tasked with trying to find the best way to deploy players like Ante Rebic, Mijat Gavinovic, Sebastian Haller, and Luka Jovic. With Rebic banged up, Frankfurt could be at a bit of a disadvantage, but let's be honest; neither of these teams really focus too hard on defense. The game should be a blast to watch, if the coaches can find a way to get all of that aforementioned talent on the field.
Last week's record: 4-5
Season record: 12-15
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 Thought
I am still not done Ozark Season 2, but it has been phenomenal. I may even do a separate blog post to recap it. Well done....
