Bundesliga Match Day 4: Wrap-Up
Borussia Dortmund absolutely wrecked Bayer Leverkusen in a 4-0 thrashing of Die Werkself. Marco Reus had a brace, while Paco Alcacer and Raphaël Guerreiro each had one goal in what was an extremely impressive effort from BVB.
Dortmund has talent for days. In this game alone, they subbed on Thorgan Hazard, Jacob Bruun Larsen, and Julian Weigl. Those are three players who would start on nearly every other Bundesliga side. For perspective, Mario Gotze, Dan-Axel Zagadou, and Mahmoud Dahoud could not even get on the pitch.
How Lucien Favre manages this over the course of the season will be vital. Sure, injuries will happen, but Favre will be tasked with trying to keep a lot of talent happy with only so mch playing time to go around.
For Leverkusen, this game showed that despite some excellent talent of their own, Die Werkself still has some way to go before elevating into the upper-echelon of the Bundesliga. This was probably the worst result that could have happened for Leverkusen. The last thing that team needed was doubt as the Champions League kicks off. Hopefully Peter Bosz can get the squad to shrug off that embarrassing loss and move on.
Prediction: Borussia Dortmund 3, Bayer Leverkusen 2 (W)
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
This week was apparently brought to you by the letter "L" as I had a horrendous 3-6 week. The big winner this week was SC Freiburg. A 3-0 shutout win over Hoffenheim has Breisgau-Brasilianer sitting pretty -- which is always great to see even if I took a massive "L" on them.
Otherwise, it was just another crazy -- and unpredictable -- week in the Bundesliga.
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
Bayern Munich 1, RB Leipzig 1: Robert Lewandowski's goal in the third minute made it look like Bayern Munich might be on its way to a rout, but Leipzig fought hard and was rewarded when Lucas Hernandez took a silly foul on Yussuf Poulsen inside the box. Emil Forsberg converted the PK and set this up for what should be an excellent rematch in the Ruckrunde.
Prediction: Bayern Munich 3, RB Leipzig 2 (L)
Wolfsburg 1, Fortuna Dusseldorf 1: F95's Niko Giesselmann traded goals with Wout Weghorst in what was a competitive match between the squads. The Wolves were not at full strength, which absolutely play a bit of a role in why Wolfsburg was not as fluid as previous efforts. That said, Fortuna Dusseldorf badly needed a point and got one...well done.
Prediction: Wolfsburg 2, Fortuna Dusseldorf 1 (L)
Random Thought
This was a god awful week for me making picks.
The beginning to this season has been fascinating in the Bundesliga.
The Champions League starts this week and we should be expecting big things from Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and Kai Havertz. The Bundesliga needs a good showing.
FC Augsburg 2, Eintracht Frankfurt 1: Marco Richter (35') and Florian Niederlechner (43') provided the offense in a superb upset win over Die Adler. Goncalo Paciencia scored in the 73rd minute for Eintracht Frankfurt, but it was not enough to catch up to Augsburg.
Prediction: Eintracht Frankfurt 3, FC Augsburg 2 (L)
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
Borussia Monchengladbach 1, FC Koln 0: Alassane Plea's 14th minute goal was the difference in the game. It has not been an illustrious start to the season for the Billy Goats.
Prediction: Borussia Monchengladbach 1, FC Koln 1 (L)
Mainz 2, Hertha Berlin 1: M05 picked up its first three points as Robin Quaison (40') and Jerry St. Juste (88'). Hertha Berlin's Marko Grujic temporarily knotted the game in the 83rd minute with a goal, but St. Juste's tally became the game winner. It was a huge -- and needed -- win for the Carnival Club.
Prediction: Hertha Berlin 2, Mainz 1 (L)
Werder Bremen 2, Union Berlin 1: Werder Bremen's Davy Klaassen (5') and Union Berlin's Sebastian Andersson (14') traded early penalty kick goals, but it would be Klassen's PK miss in the 55th minute that set the stage for Niclas Fullkrug's 55th minute game-winner just seconds later.
Prediction: Werder Bremen 3, Union Berlin 1 (W)
Random Thought
There is always a place for analytics and advanced statistics in sports, but when teams put too much trust in the numbers rather than what they actually see on the field, it becomes troubling (see the 2019 Philadelphia Phillies).
I finally caught The Mule starring Clint Eastwood and I'll say that I was extremely entertained by it. It was a good, worthwhile flick.
If you need brief reviews on movies from like two or three years ago, I'm your man.
Honestly, I don't even watch a ton of movies any more. I typically tend to go the "Prestige TV" route if I am not watching sports. These days, however, I am not watching much of anything, though.
SC Freiburg 3, Hoffenheim 0: Christian Gunter (11'), Janik Haberer (38'), and Nils Petersen (59') powered Freiburg to a shocking, thrilling, dominant (did we already say shocking?) victory over TSG1899.
Prediction: Hoffenheim 2, SC Freiburg 1 (L)
Schalke 04 5, SC Paderborn 1: Cauly Oliveira-Souza put SCP ahead early, but Schalke stormed back with five consecutive goals to clinch the win and three crucial points. Amine Harit had a brace and Salif Sane, Suat Serdar, and Ahmed Kutucu each added a single tally to guide Die Königsblauen to the win.
Prediction: Schalke 04 2, SC Paderborn 1 (W)
Season Record
This was bound to happen. There was no way, my string of good "luck" was going to continue without absorbing a week where not much went right:
Match day record: 3-6
Season record: 19-17
Perfect calls: 2
