Results of matchday 31
VfB Stuttgart – Werder Bremen 4:1 (2:1)
- FC Kaiserslautern – 1. FC Nürnberg 0:2 (0:1)
FC Schalke 04 – Borussia Dortmund 1:2 (1:1)
VfL Wolfsburg – FC Augsburg 1:2 (1:1)
Hamburger SV – Hannover 96 1:0 (1:0)
Bayer Leverkusen – Hertha BSC 3:3 (1:0)
FC Bayern Munich – FSV Mainz 05 0:0
Borussia Mönchengladbach – 1. FC Köln 3:0 (1:0)
SC Freiburg – TSG Hoffenheim 0:0
The table situation
| Sp | S | U | N | Pkt | T | GT | Diff | |||
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 31 | 22 | 6 | 3 | 72 | 69 | – | 23 | +46 |
| 2 | FC Bayern München | 31 | 20 | 4 | 7 | 64 | 69 | – | 20 | +49 |
| 3 | FC Schalke 04 | 31 | 18 | 3 | 10 | 57 | 66 | – | 41 | +25 |
| 4 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 31 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 56 | 46 | – | 22 | +24 |
| 5 | VfB Stuttgart | 31 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 49 | 59 | – | 41 | +18 |
| 6 | Bayer Leverkusen | 31 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 45 | 46 | – | 43 | +3 |
| 7 | Hannover 96 | 31 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 44 | 39 | – | 43 | -4 |
| 8 | Werder Bremen | 31 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 42 | 45 | – | 50 | -5 |
| 9 | TSG Hoffenheim | 31 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 41 | 38 | – | 40 | -2 |
| 10 | VfL Wolfsburg | 31 | 12 | 4 | 15 | 40 | 42 | – | 56 | -14 |
| 11 | 1.FC Nürnberg | 31 | 11 | 5 | 15 | 38 | 33 | – | 42 | -9 |
| 12 | FSV Mainz 05 | 31 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 37 | 47 | – | 48 | -1 |
| 13 | SC Freiburg | 31 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 36 | 41 | – | 56 | -15 |
| 14 | Hamburger SV | 31 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 34 | 34 | – | 55 | -21 |
| 15 | FC Augsburg | 31 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 33 | 34 | – | 48 | -14 |
| 16 | 1.FC Köln | 31 | 8 | 5 | 18 | 29 | 36 | – | 66 | -30 |
| 17 | Hertha BSC | 31 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 28 | 34 | – | 57 | -23 |
| 18 | 1.FC Kaiserslautern | 31 | 3 | 11 | 17 | 20 | 19 | – | 46 | -27 |
| 797 | 797 | 0 | ||||||||
| Gesamtanzahl Spiele | 279 | |||||||||
| Tore ø | 2.86 |
A few comments on results and table
At least there was some progress in the matchday reporting in that it was pointed out that in both cases the final result of 1:2, favouring the away team in each case, was not really deserved in the pairings Wolfsburg vs Augsburg and Schalke vs Dortmund. Although, of course, one heard often enough (no, as always, far too often) this ridiculous, utterly false, equally inhumane explanation, almost with every missed goal-scoring chance, especially when a team missed MORE THAN ONE in a row, that “the lack of effectiveness” was to blame and that this had already been evident with that team throughout the season.
This is just unbearable, unbearable stupidity at the same time, especially when you see how lightning fast everything goes and how short the time is to process a ball, get it towards the goal AND get it past the goalkeeper, even if you were “completely free” according to the reporter, which he deduces just from the fact that every attacker who gets the ball in the penalty area deserves this predicate, because after all he got close. This nonsense is already so enormous that the rest can only be filed under “absurd”. If the attacker scores, then it was the “collective deep sleep” that made the goal possible, but if he doesn’t score, then, see above, it is “the lack of opportunities” that stands in the way, usually with the addition that he “simply HAS to make more of it”, which only allows the conclusion that, since he “missed this giant”, he should immediately be shot on the spot. What other punishment would there be if one “just HAD to do something” but didn’t?
The inhumanity, by the way, is delivered right away, as there is no leniency whatsoever, and this intransigence is either felt by the attackers or by the defence. A scene that is simply beautiful, exciting, well done, from all sides, pretty to look at, with the accompanying cheering and groaning, insofar as one hopes for this or that, or presses, insofar as it succeeds, namely either the attacking action or yet the defensive action, all this does not exist in this colourless (because exclusively black and white) world of the reporters. And that’s how you want to sell the goods?
By the way, in Gladbach vs. Cologne, all the voices after the game, both from Gladbach and Cologne, perfectly captured the course of the game, according to their own assessment and observation. Why is it that no reporter ever succeeds in describing a game as it really was, so that if you haven’t seen it, you get an idea of it, except by monotonously listing the result, which he even does in the summary, since you could actually form your own opinion?
What was the game really like? Gladbach were awarded this one free kick, but before that, admittedly, they had already been playing for a while that refreshing fast combination football that has characterised them for so long this season, with Marco Reus clearly setting the pace, who had to come off after a few minutes against Hertha, and so in this previous home game (0:0) perhaps provided the otherwise observable lack of inspiration.
By the way, the free-kick was commented with the words “… took the free kick out”, suggesting a little that it should not have been given in all circumstances. The wall in this case was estimated at an astonishing 10 metres (but why wasn’t there a measurement there? That would have been really interesting…) moved away, whereupon the Cologne team, sensing this, pointed to the ball, but an energetic Knut Kircher must have made it unmistakably clear that if he said anything more, it would be yellow. So, for once, the shooter had that space you need to conjure up a really great shot exactly into the corner, over the wall, with the announcer, immediately after the impact, once again preoccupied exclusively with the question of whether or not the wall had collectively jumped up instead of enjoying this great goal. (Incidentally, the suggestion had already been made elsewhere, since the free kicks often don’t bring any real danger, even directly in the penalty area, that perhaps the distance between the walls should be reconsidered, to 10 metres perhaps? Where could the damage be? More goals? Oh dear, no, that really shouldn’t be the case…).
So Gladbach managed to take the lead and even if they were admittedly the better team up to that point and during the rest of the first half, who could be surprised when 4 plays 16, and in their own stadium? If Cologne were the better team, would they be satisfied in the announcer’s booth?
Cologne, however, held out as best they could, although Podolski, of all people, really did look a bit listless. Nevertheless, two brilliant opportunities arose, of which the announcer still recognised how great it was with the first and did not want to “blame” the attacker Novakovic, so with the second he said “if you like, the SECOND good opportunity for Cologne”, but when he recapitulated after the break, he again concealed it and spoke only of ONE good opportunity. Why does he do that?
The second chance was a corner kick, by the way, where Novakovic went to the short post, was the first to get to the ball and extended it with his head in front of the goal, and two Cologne players – obviously planned and trained that way – missed it by a hair’s breadth, of course hard pressed by opponents who are allowed to do anything in such duels, so to speak, and there would never be a penalty.
After the break, Cologne came out with even more drive and determination and had two more great chances. You could hardly have expected much more up to that point, because even if you extrapolate it carefully to the 90 minutes, it would be at least six good goal-scoring chances for the whole game, and that would be pretty good. The question would be how many of them we would be able to score and at the same time how many the opponents would score, who might get a few more. But that’s football, Cologne swallowed the 0:2 immediately afterwards, which of course already causes a considerable crack, and afterwards Marco Reus marched through the defence, in his very own but no less impressive way, but in both situations he was lucky that the ball bounced back in front of his feet, even if this is a dribbling technique that can be observed a lot today: just play the ball forward and go after it, even if defenders’ legs are in the way. Every now and then you get the ball back to your leg and just run through.
The game was of course over with the 0:3, even if one should certainly praise Cologne’s effort for the consolation goal and they were on the verge of a great chance a few times, which only elicited the damning verdict from the announcer that they “haven’t had a shot on goal since the 47th minute”, which is unfair insofar as they didn’t shoot, but were blocked or otherwise prevented several times right before finishing.
How you now come to the conclusion in the later analysis that it can’t be done that way is as unfair as it is wrong, precisely because Cologne are still in the relegation place. So “it’s not enough” is pure nonsense, or does he mean that in the duel with Düsseldorf or St.Pauli or Paderborn, where the decision is at stake in two games, we wouldn’t stand a chance with such a (by no means weak) performance? No, they talk nonsense, continuously, without any sense or reason. But they want to sell subscriptions, with the Bundesliga as their main attraction, which is continually degraded to the level of a district league with their own district-class performances at the microphone…
The league situation has not developed as dramatically as expected. The standings have become even further apart instead of moving closer together towards the end, as can often be observed. Kaiserslautern have been pretty much knocked off the pace for a while now, so it’s no longer possible to bother with rescue chances, even if the game against Nuremberg were played completely normally, as announced. It was again not a win, even if the effort was visible.
Hertha and Cologne have also scored so few points lately, in contrast to their distancing rivals, that here, too, one can only talk about the suspense being about which of the two will grab the relegation spot and who will have to go straight down (of course, there are figures elsewhere for the relegation chances of others). No excessive tension either.
At the top it has become a bit more boring since Saturday. Dortmund with a (lucky) win, Bayern with an unlucky draw, however well Mainz worked (and looked for chances themselves). No, you shouldn’t talk about “taking it easy” and “Real Madrid in the back of your mind”. Every now and then you don’t manage to put the ball in the box, Saturday was such a day, despite some good chances.
The suspense should now be about 3rd or 4th place, and even that doesn’t knock you off your chair, because after all, both are somehow in it, even if one is only in the qualifiers. The Euroleague places are of course still somewhat contested, but in any case more suspense would be conceivable (not in this question alone, but overall).
