The clubs at the top of the table keep crawling along. The clubs at the bottom keep sinking.
Referees had a forgettable weekend and in between a player and a coach dropped bombshells.
Philipp Lahm. Bayern's disappointing draw at home against Schalke. Robben's
moment of madness for which he should have seen a red card.
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20 years ago the Berlin Wall fell. Depending on who you ask it was either because of David
Hasselhof, an accident or a peaceful revolution of the East German people.
One football fan was particularly looking forward to this event, after cheering on the "wrong"
football teams for over two decades.
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With Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni locked at 0 Bundesliga goals this season, some Bayern fans
will probably welcome this opportunity to escape into nostalgia for a short while.
In 1974 Gerd Müller succeeded where Michael Ballack had failed in 2002 and won the Bundesliga,
Champions Cup (Champions League) and the World Cup.
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Bayern Munich fans are certainly not in a particularly good mood at the moment. The situation in
the Bundesliga is far from hopeless but still disappointing, while Bayern will need a miracle of
sorts to progress in the Champions League. Thus, some fans may be in disbelieve, some may question
the coach or the players, others blame the transfer policy and a few probably just desperately hope
for Ribery to return and make it all right again.
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3 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat for Bundesliga clubs in Europe this week. The good news is that
five out of six have it all in their own hands to progress to the next round. The odd club out is
of course Hertha B... no wait.
Bayern Munich 0-2 Bordeaux. Bayern wanted a football teacher and got a textbook
case of how little possession stats tell you about the outcome of a football match.
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The top of the league collectively dropped points, allowing Hoffenheim to close the gap but not
much more. The bottom of the league collectively dropped points, allowing Hertha to keep dreaming
about Bundesliga survival but not much more.
Rookie Coach of the Year. Also known as the Markus Babbel Trophy.
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We keep it strictly binary this week.
0. The combined number of goals Bayern's strike duo Miroslav Klose and Luca
Toni scored so far this season.
1. The number of goals former Bayern striker Lukas Podolski scored so far this
season. Lukas Podolski joined Cologne in the summer, after Klose and Toni were continuously given
the nod ahead of him.
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I pulled a Jupp Heynckes this week and thus the following links will have to make do for the
moment.
- Louis van Gaal is not a god. He's a jazz singer. (YouTube)
- Football's winning formula revealed: give the ball to the other team and lose all your
challenges. (Ballspiel)
- Mainz 05 are starting to build a global fanbase.
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2 Blackouts. Stuttgart continued to show signs of life in their game against
Sevilla and they continued to produce stupid defensive lapses, which continually cost them the
games. Two such mistakes, coupled with the referee missing an offside position helped Sevilla to a
comfortable 3-1 victory.
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Mark van Bommel signed a one year extension on his Bayern Munich contract last season. He had asked
for two years. Bayern answered by referring to a club policy of giving players over 30 only one
year extensions. At that time Martin Jol came sniffing around and rumors emerged that Hamburg might
be willing to give van Bommel that extra season.
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Bayern were busy exercising control and dominance. Leverkusen were busy defending. Hamburg were
busy passing the ball around. Creativity, inspiration and excitement were busy waiting for a date
that would never show up. Not this weekend.
Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. VfB Stuttgart will host Sevilla in
the Champions League on Tuesday and then head off to Hannover for, what is now, a relegation
six-pointer.
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It wasn't a good weekend for exciting football. It was a good weekend for exciting numbers. Or
rather, a good weekend for those who can find numbers exciting.
619. Tim Wiese has kept a clean sheet for 619 minutes and counting. Remember,
he did so while playing for Werder Bremen.
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kenn.com 07 October @ 12:48 PM EST
October means Oktoberfest, and FC Bayern Munich's Daniel van Buyten and his
girlfriend or wife (depending on who you believe), Celine, were all over it this
past Sunday. Really, does it matter if she's his wife or his girlfriend? It's a celebration either
way.
Here is a better photo of her.
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In the past Bayern's traditional visit of Munich's Oktoberfest was a way of celebrating
humorless league dominance with one Maß after the other. In recent years it has been more about
putting a good face on matters and drowning your sorrow in alcohol. At least the players now know,
what it feels like signing for 1860 Munich.
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Establishing something comparable to England's Big Four remains a distant dream for last
season's top four in the Bundesliga. Wolfsburg are 7th after disappointingly drawing with Bochum.
Munich are 8th after disappointingly drawing with Cologne. Stuttgart are 13th after disappointingly
losing to Bremen.
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Establishing something comparable to England's Big Four remains a distant dream for last
season's top four in the Bundesliga. Wolfsburg are 7th after disappointingly drawing with Bochum.
Munich are 8th after disappointingly drawing with Cologne. Stuttgart are 13th after disappointingly
losing to Bremen.
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Saturday's Bundesliga action coincided with the 19th anniversary of Germany's reunification,
which conveniently is also the country's national holiday albeit without lethal fireworks or
military parades. To celebrate the event Berlin went all out artsy with some megalomaniac
puppeteering, while the Bundesliga chose a more pragmatic approach, by retelling the the events
through football over 90 minutes.
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Hamburg remain in control of the top, Hertha remain in control of the bottom and with his wins
over Bochum, Dortmund and the Schalke fans Felix Magath is now in total control of the Ruhr
Valley.
Battle Chess. When a commenter on one of Germany's public broadcasters
attempted to summarize and categorize the match between Hamburg and Bayern, he kept talking about
this game being for tactic freaks, but with an uncertainty to his statements, as though he didn't
really know what was going on and didn't want to admit to it.
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Extra Time. We can end the debate about where the seven minutes of extra time
came from in the Manchester derby. They were taken from the Bundesliga's three Sunday fixtures,
where the refs decided to call it a day after pretty much exactly 90 minutes. It's not really a
coincidence but rather an annoying habit.
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Three wins, two draws and one defeat makes for a balanced but not too glorious start to this
year's European season.
Wolfsburg. You are never too old for an impressive Champions League debut.
Grafite (30) scored a hat-trick and became only (or already?) the sixth player to do so on his
debut.
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With Franck Ribery running the show against Dortmund, Arjen Robben was free to take some time
off and practice his Air Sitar skills.
(JUERGEN SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images)
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As our Bayern blogger Luke aptly cited it. Or as Louis van Gaal said in his post match press
conference: "Franck Ribery showed today that he loves this coach." And van Gaal loves speaking of
himself in the third person obviously.
Quick recap: in a matter of just about 14 days we've gone from this to this and finally arrived
here.
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Sorry for letting this blog rot away in the late August sun for so many weeks. Other work took
over and left some time but not much energy to spend on other things. But the team blogs have been
bursting with energy all the more at the same time and a few more came back to life, so I guess
there were still enough places on The Offside for Bundesliga related updates.
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Sorry for letting this blog rot away in the late August sun for so many weeks. Other work took
over and left some time but not much energy to spend on other things. But the team blogs have been
bursting with energy all the more at the same time and a few more came back to life, so I guess
there were still enough places on The Offside for Bundesliga related updates.
Click to continue reading...
1.FSV Mainz 05 2 v 1 FC Bayern München FC Bayern coach Louis Van Gaal was hopeful of finally
getting a victory for his side following two draws in the first two matches in this young
Bundesliga season. He and the Bayern fans will however be disappointed after watching their side
get [...]
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It's time to preview the eight most important teams of the upcoming Bundesliga season.
Bayern
Pre-Season: Bayern's pre-season started like all pre-seasons during odd
numbered years by putting between 50 to 100 million Euros into circulation, to make up for not
signing anyone during the even numbered years.
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There is much to like about the DFB-Pokal.
First of all, its' format contrasts nicely with all other season long competitions. A pure
knockout tournament. 90 minutes minimum. 120 minutes and penalty shootouts if necessary. No draws.
No rematches. No second legs. If you are the away team, live with it.
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German giants FC Bayern München (or FC Bayern Munich) have launched their 2009/10 third kit that
will be used for the team's UEFA Champions League matches. The new kit has already made its debut
on the field during Bayern's pre-season campaign. The Bayern Munich 09/10 Adidas Champions League
kit: - Features white pinstripes with a fold-over polo style [.
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