Bundesliga Match Day 7: Preview and Forecast
Werder Bremen has certainly not yet hit its stride as a team. In fact, many would argue that the team has taken a step back from the way it was playing last season. Florian Kohfeldt's squad, however, has a very strong base of talent and could be about ready to break out of the minor malaise that it has been in over the first part of this young season.
Eintracht Frankfurt will be seeking to prevent Werder Bremen from gaining any momentum and Adi Hutter currently has his team over-achieving given the massive losses it has endured to its roster. I know I beat the drum loudly and repeatedly about the effect of losing Luka Jovic, Sebastien Haller, and Ante Rebic, but that is just a gaping void that would affect any roster. Hutter, however, has managed to keep his team moving forward, integrated some new talent, and produced some good results. If anything, Hutter is proving his mettle with each game and showing why he was the absolute right call to succeed Niko Kovac.
Werder Bremen, however, will be a tough match-up even as the road team. This could be a great time for Josh Sargent, "Angry" Davy Klaassen, Max Eggestein, Milot Rashica, and the rest of Kohfeldt's squad to get a quality win and starting trending upward.
Prediction: Werder Bremen 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 2
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
Hertha Berlin 3, Fortuna Dusseldorf 2: This is a game that Die Alte Dame should be able pullout at home. Hertha Berlin is not as bad as it has looked at times this season, while F95 is going to be in a constant struggle all season to remain afloat.
Niklas Stark earned another call-up to Die Mannschaft and will hopefully get an opportunity to prove himself. If Joachim Low can gain confidence in Stark to man the "6", it could free up Joshua Kimmich to return to right-back where he is (or is at least among) the world's best. Low, however, still might see Stark as a center-back, which could represent a more difficult path for the 24-year-old.
RB Leipzig 3, Bayer Leverkusen 2: This could be the most important Bundesliga match of the weekend. Die Roten Bullen was rolling and looking extremely dangerous as of two weeks ago, but after a league loss to Schalke 04 and a humbling Champions League defeat to Lyon, Leipzig needs to regroup in a bad way. This is the first test for Julian Nagelsmann in trying to handle his roster.
Nagelsmann opted to sit Emil Forsberg against Lyon and paid for it. Granted, Timo Werner and Yussuf Poulsen failed to finish several good opportunities, but Leipzig looked far less confident after the Schake loss -- which was completely inexplicable and seemed to just damage the squad's mindset.
For Leverkusen, this is truly a statement game in a lot of ways. This team needs a signature win in a bad way. Die Werkself has been poor in the Champions League and really is lacking a signature victory over a quality team. The whispers are starting to get louder about that, especially when it comes to Kai Havertz. Until Havertz can lead his squad to a victory over an upper-echelon team, there will be those that doubt his talent.
Will Leverkusen be able to shake that ever-growing a reputation? Probably not this week. Expect RB Leipzig to bounce back.
Bayern Munch 4, Hoffenheim 0: There might not be a hotter team in Europe than Bayern Munich and poor Hoffenheim has got to hope that the Bavarians are looking past TSG1899. Unfortunately for Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich's talent and depth are just too overwhelming right now even with Lucas Hernandez, Jerome Boateng, David Alaba, Leon Goretzka, and Fiete Arp all banged up. Boateng is expected to be available, while Alaba and Hernandez are questionable. Goretzka and Arp are out. It is likely that Hernandez won't play, but his status has been cloudy, so I did not want to rule him out as of yet.
Either way, it does not matter -- Bayern Munich is going to roll unless TSG1899 keeps eight men in the box.
Borussia Dortmund 4, SC Freiburg 1: BVB has not looked like itself of late and part of that is likely because Lucien Favre has not been able to settle on a consistent XI -- which is partly because he has such a talented overall roster. With that talent, however, has come the responsibility of keeping the players happy, which is my theory on Dortmund has went from looking like legitimate Champions League contenders to a scuffling mid-table Bundesliga side.
Dortmund is good...they are damn good, but they are not playing that way right now. The potential for real greatness is there, but Favre is going to have to find the right ingredients to make things work on the pitch and the right formula to keep everyone happy in the locker room. If he cannot do that, he'll experience failure -- and there is likely not much tolerance to losing at BVB these days.
As for Freiburg, we absolutely love what they are doing, but this week could be a harsh drop back to reality unless Christian Streich can major out-scheme Favre to compensate for the difference in talent.
(Courtesy of @Bundesliga_EN)
Mainz 05 2, SC Paderborn 1: Oooooof. This one will either be a barrel of fun or incredibly hard to watch...THERE IS NO IN BETWEEN!
Schalke 04 3, FC Koln 2: Can Schalke stay hot? We think so. Somehow, Die Königsblauen has rebounded from a disastrous 2018-2019 campaign and 22-year-old Amine Harit has been a force under David Wagner. If Schalke can remain playing at this level, the squad could be in-line to compete for one of the top six positions in the league.
FC Koln, however, is scuffling in the top flight once again. The squad talent and depth -- at this point -- have not performed as needed. Hopefully Koln has learned from its last season in the Bundesliga when it dug itself a huge hole early and could never find a way out.
Borussia Monchengladbach 2, FC Augsburg 1: I have not been impressed by M'Gladbach so far, but they somehow keep performing and I expect them to dispatch Augsburg this weekend with relative ease. Sure, Augsburg has potential to keep it somewhat close (and I think the score will indicate that), but I feel like Die Fohlen will be poised and ready to capture three points in a contest that will not quite be as close as the score will indicate.
Wolfsburg 3, Union Berlin 1: The Wolves should be able to take of business this week against a game, but over-matched Union Berlin side.
Random Thought
At this time last week, I was preparing for an adventurous travel day where I spent over 12 hours in an airport as my flight was delayed numerous times and eventually cancelled -- only to be rescheduled five hours (5AM) after they cancelled it at midnight.
This may seem like any other bitter travel note, but I was stunned at the differing reactions of those affected. I had been following the weather patterns, so I had a feeling this was happening, but multiple people completely unraveled and the poor person working the gate could only stand there and repeat herself that she was sorry, explain that the pilots have "timed out", and try to survive the onslaught of anger coming her way.
I mean...there was NO ONE that wanted that flight to take off more than the woman working the gate. People need to chill at times. You can't win against Mother Nature and yelling at an airline employee working the gate isn't going to make those thunder storms go away.
Season Record
Last match day record: 5-4
Season record: 30-24
Perfect calls: 6
