0 – The number in Frankfurt’s win column (still, and I’ll keep on mentioning this until Frankfurt take note and do something about it)
5 – Difference in points between 1st (Hamburg) and 11th (Bayern).
6 – Number of goalscorers Hamburg and Werder Bremen have in the top 12 (ie, those who have scored at least 4 or more goals this season)
10 – The number of yellows Bayern have as a team, the fewest in the league. This is the only good table that Bayern currently top in the Bundesliga. I can think of a few bad ones that they’d rank right near the top of, however.
11 – Goals Bayern have allowed at home so far this season (3 more than the two next closest teams, Bielefeld and Gladbach and 9(!) more than they’ve given up on the road)
19 – Goals that Bremen have surrendered so far this season. 7 of those came against teams currently ranked beneath them (11th or lower) in the table.
27 – Games that Claudio Pizarro appeared in last season for Chelsea, scoring two goals in the process. Pizarro scored twice in 3 minutes against Dortmund and raised his 10-game season total to 7.
58 – Seconds it took for Timo Konietzka of Dortmund to score his first Bundesliga goal in an eventual 3:2 triumph over Bremen on August 24th, 1963. It also happened to be the league’s first goal.
59 – Minutes it took for Dortmund’s Alexander Frei to score the first of six goals over the next half hour plus in the 2008 encounter between these two teams that ended in a 3-all draw.
99.75 and 104.5 – Goals that Hoffenheim and Bremen, respectively, will end the season with if they continue at their current pace. The only team to have actually scored more than 100 goals in a season was Bayern during the 1971/72 campaign.
Frankfurt's going to play against Karlsruhe at home later today. Remember the match was cancelled because of the Madonna concert? I think you do.
'5 – Difference in points between 1st (Hamburg) and 11th (Bayern).'
*eyes wide open* Wow. The most stand-out stat from Matchday Eight!
Yeah, they're overdue for a win. And I'm not saying this just because two months ago I picked Frankfurt to finish 7th. Then again I also thought Leverkusen would struggle to find a scoring threat. AND I didn't hold out a lot of hope for Hoffenheim. The list goes on… So to go along with my bad predictions, I think I've also jinxed my fair share teams (sorry Bayern) to start the season.
That 5-pt note got me looking at other leagues and how they'd compare:
Belgium – 1st and 8th
England – 1st and 5th
France – 1st and 6th
Greece – 1st and 4th
Scotland – 1st and 3rd
Spain – 1st and 6th
Sweden – 1st and 2nd
Turkey – 1st and 7th
The only comparable leagues?
Well the Dutch, of course – 1st and 10th
Surprisingly also Italy – 1st and 10th
Portugal (but only 5 games played) – 1st and 11th
Speaking of predictions, I think I remembered reading DP predicted Stuttgart's Armin Veh to be the first coach to go. Back then when I read the news of Jos Luhukay got the boot, I went amused when I thought about DP's prediction.
Well, we all make bad predictions sometimes. I rarely hit the jackpot with mine. So imagine back then during Euro 2008, I was stunned that Spain really made into the final. Given I had actually secretly predicted them to go all the way.
I also predicted that the sub prime scandal would blow over. Never pay attention to my predictions.