VfL Bochum Rank: 17th Preseason Prediction: 17th What was I thinking? In the final 2007-08 standings I had grouped Bochum among a few sides that I referred to as being consistently adequate, hovering just above relegation. I was prepared to keep them there, too, except for the signings over the summer of Hashemian and Freier, […]
Bielefeld
1–2–3 — Current ranking of Bochum, Cottbus, and Bielefeld on the “Anti-Fair-Play Table.” Here Bochum has a commanding lead thanks to their 33(!) yellows in 12 games. This trio tops another table as well, but this one’s about “Anti-Results.” All three are currently in the relegation zone. Coincidence? Probably not considering Anti-Fair-Play cellar dwellers Leverkusen […]
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 […]
Having had the time to digest Bayern’s 2–5 mauling by Bremen (no need to rehash things here, if you need a refresher check out the excellent post at Deutsche Welle’s Ballspiel or the video highlights at 101 Great Goals), I wanted to know exactly how bad it was for the Bavarians. No matter what your […]
1 — Number of weeks Hamburg spent at the top of the table 2 — Number of 0–0 draws after five weeks 5 — Clean sheets, tied (alongside week 4) for the most in one week 8 — Minutes it took sub Jonas Kamper to score in Bielefeld’s 2–0 win over Köln 11 — The […]
While this is expected to become a weekly column, I have decided to hand out the first Weekly XI based on the cumulative efforts of the first three weeks. I will use a 3–4–3 formation for my picks. Schober (S04) Westermann (S04) Subotic (BVB) Friedrich (HBS) Kuba (BVB) Marin (MON) Schweinsteiger (FCB) Dejegah (WLF) Wichniarek (AB) Helmes (BL) Ibisevic (TSG) GK: Mathias […]
1. Parity Okay, let’s not kid ourselves. Not any team can win the Bundesliga. But since the inception of the EPL in 1991, four teams have won the title: United, Blackburn, Chelsea and Arsenal, but United has won 11 of those titles. In that same span, five teams have won the title in Germany: Kaiserslautern, […]
