This seemingly inscrutable graphic actually details how my preseason picks (scroll down to the comments) have turned out thus far. We’ve reached the winter break in the Bundesliga and things haven’t quite turned out as I expected. Those of you kind enough to point out that there’s still a lot of football left to be played, I appreciate the thought. But there’s no getting around the fact that I drastically underestimated the top third of the table. Hoffenheim and Hertha are my two worst offenders, underestimating them by 15 and 10 spots respectively. My one shining bit of spot-on prognostication was tabbing Bochum at 17th.

Over the next few weeks I’ll do my best to bring you up to speed with a mid-season review of every squad, finishing just in time for the league’s resumption on January 30th. I’ll begin with Borussia Mönchengladbach and work my way up the table. Along the way I also will hazard a guess as to every side’s final table position. although as you’ve seen it’s certainly a shot in the dark.