Bundesliga Match Day 5: Preview and Forecast
SC Freiburg is sitting pretty in third place ahead of Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg, Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen, and Werder Bremen among others. Yes, it's true, Christian Streich's boys have been the feel-good story of the Bundesliga so far this season.
With Luca Waldschmidt and Nils Petersen powering the offense, and a strong supporting cast that includes Jonathan Schmid, Lucas Holer, Nicolas Hofler, Philipp Leinhart, Christian Gunter, and goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow, Freiburg has jumped nicely out of the gate this season.
In a match, no one probably thought looked too appealing before the season, however, FC Augsburg presents a potential stumbling block for Freiburg. Die Fuggerstadter is coming off a needed and important victory over Eintracht Frankfurt and finally looks like it is soaking in the tactical strategies of Martin Schmidt. Always dangerous with the likes of Alfred Finnbogason, Michael Gregoritsch, Philipp Max, Marco Richter, and Andre Hahn, Augsburg has talent. The issue -- even this week -- is keeping the talent healthy and Max and Richter are both banged up.
Even if they do, however, this looks like it could be another game where Freiburg can scrape out three points.
Prediction: SC Freiburg 3, FC Augsburg 2
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
Schalke 04 2, Mainz 05 1: While this is not exactly a barn-burner for the Friday tilt, both teams played well last week and picked up wins. With seven points in four games, Schalke has done well to start to wash away the stink of last season. Mainz, as we all knew, is going to be fighting every week to scrape out a point and could be headed to relegation.
Schalke's Jonjoe Kenny has been a joy to watch this season, bringing a craftiness and fire to his play at outside-back. Perhaps Kenny's influence can help push Schalke to a chance at competing for top-six position over the ling run of the Bundesliga season. Either way, David Wagner's boys should be able to grind away for a home victory this week.
Bayern Leverkusen 3, Union Berlin 1: Leverkusen's midweek failure in the Champions League against Lokomotiv Moscow was very disappointing. Die Werkself failed to grab even a point against the Russian side and things won't get easier with Juventus and Atletico Madrid on the horizon. In the Bundesliga, however, this is a game that Leverkusen should be able to win.
With Kai Havertz likely in his last year with the club, Lerverkusen will need to try and get the most of out its phenom. Coming off of last week's debacle against Dortmund -- and the midweek mess in the Champions League -- Havertz needs to show something here against Union Berlin. Given his talent and ability, I'm expecting he does just that.
Bayern Munich 3, FC Koln 0: Bayern Munich battered Red Star midweek in the Champions League and is looking extremely formidable despite its record of two wins and two draws through four games. Despite the presence of Timo Horn and Jonas Hector, Bayern Munich is just too talented, too deep, too fast, and too strong for the Billy Goats.
Given all of the controversy that Manuel Neuer has found himself in middle of over the past week, I am sure that the Bayern goalkeeper will be be eager to add another clean sheet to his resume and Die Roten should have no problem scoring given the ludicrous amount of ability it has at forward and midfield.
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
Hertha Berlin 2, SC Paderborn 1: Okay...Hertha Berlin has been bad this season. Really bad. The problem is that I am an idiot and keep looking at the pockets of talent that exist on the roster and thinking that those players can carry the squad out of their doldrums.
And I'll do it once this week as Die Alte Dame takes on SC Paderborn -- a team that doesn't lack hustle or effort -- but one that does lack top-end talent.
RB Leipzig 3, Werder Bremen 2: The most fascinating game of the week will go down at the Weserstadion. Leipzig battled Bayern to a draw last week and downed Benfica in the Champions League as well.
This Leipzig team is for real. I repeat, this Leipzig team is FOR REAL.
Werder Bremen, though, is still looking to shake off an uneven start to the season and is playing host to Die Roten Bullen in what should really be an exciting game played by two teams that don't mind taking chances. The potential offensive matchups in this game are really fun to think about. With Timo Werner, Yussuf Poulsen (out - paternity leave), Marcel Sabitzer, and Emil Forsberg on one side and some combination of Josh Sargent, Milot Rashica (questionable), Max Eggestein, Johannes Eggestein, Niclas Fullkrug, and Yuya Osako (questionable) on the other, this could be a terrific contest.
Werder Bremen needs a win here at home, but RB Leipzig is riding high and does not appear ready to cede its place atop the table.
Borussia Monchengladbach 2, Fortuna Dusseldorf 1: After an embarrassingly bad effort in the Europa League (a 4-0 loss to Austrian side Wolfsberg), M'Gladbach needs a win in a bad way. Die Fohlen should be able to make that happen against F95.
Borussia Dortmund 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 1: Dortmund battled Barcelona to a scoreless draw in the Champions League this week, while Die Adler is coming off of a loss to Augsburg last weekend and a battering at the hands of Arsenal in the Europa League.
Things won't get easier for Adi Hutter's troops.
It may sound like a broken record at this point, but losing Luka Jovic, Sebastien Haller, and Ante Rebic is just too much loss for any squad to handle. Die Adler still has quality talent, but not enough to compete with BVB.
Dortmund, meanwhile, is so deep that it can't even get Mario Gotze or Julian Weigl any meaningful minutes. That's just absurd and shows the level of skill on Lucien Favre's roster.
Wolfsburg 2, Hoffenheim 1: The Wolves downed Oleksandriya in the Europa League this week and are clearly one of the best squads in the Bundesliga, while Hoffenheim is scuffling so far under new coach Alfred Schreuder. I'd expect that Wolfsburg gets out to a slow start in this one, but eventually wear down TSG1899.
I don't want this to become a Wout Weghorst appreciation page, but the man can just flat-out score. He is truly one of the most underrated players in the league and is absolutely a guy who should be getting a close look from the Dutch national team as the UEFA EURO 2020 competition draws near. Weghorst can score in a lot of ways, but his large frame and physical presence make him one of the most dynamic striker in the league.
Season Record
Here's to hoping for a rebound after two straight poor showings!
Previous match day record: 3-6
Season record: 19-17
Perfect calls: 2
