Bundesliga Matchday 21 kicked off with Eintracht Frankfurt drawing 1-1 with Union Berlin in the first game under new head coach Albert Riera.
Saturday afternoon saw Borussia Dortmund travel to Wolfsburg, St.Pauli hosted VfB Stuttgart, Daniel Thioune’s first game in charge of Werder Bremen was away at Freiburg, Mainz played Augsburg, and Hamburg faced fellow strugglers Heidenheim.
Here is everything we learnt:
Borussia Dortmund close the gap on Bayern Munich:
Like last weekend, it wasn’t pretty (and it never is for Dortmund under Niko Kovac), but they were able to beat Wolfsburg 2-1.
They took the lead in the first half through Julian Brandt, but Konstantinos Koulierakis would set up a nervy end of the game when he made it 1-1. However, just like against Heidenheim, Serhou Guirassy stepped up with a late goal to make it 2-1.
It was another performance where Kovac’s side were far from convincing, only creating one big chance (via FotMob), against a Wolfsburg side who have been close to horrible this season. Despite the cliche of these being the type of games you have to win if you want to be a champion, this style of play from Dortmund is not sustainable, and it is only a matter of time before they come unstuck.
The win means that Dortmund have put the pressure on Bayern as they have closed the gap on the current Bundesliga leaders to only three points, with the Rekordmeister set to play Hoffenheim on Sunday.
After the game, Dortmund captain Nico Schlotterbeck again reiterated his desire to be champion (via Sky Germany):
“Of course I’m the captain right now because Emre is out. If I set the course, the team has to follow…I live the belief. You also play for BVB to achieve something.”
Over to you, Bayern.
St.Pauli win their first Bundesliga game of the year:
St.Pauli’s last Bundesliga win was a 2-1 win against fellow strugglers Heidenheim just before the winter break. Their next win was a surprising 2-1 win against Stuttgart, thanks to goals from Manolis Saliakas and Danel Sinani.
The win and due to other results (which we will get to), means Alexander Blessin’s side is just two points away from safety. It probably won’t be enough to stay up, but they are putting up a fight.
While Stuttgart have opened the door for RB Leipzig to leapfrog them into the Bundesliga top four if they beat 1.FC Köln tomorrow. After what was a laboured win in midweek in the DFB Pokal, this was a dull performance from a Stuttgart attack that had been so free-flowing up until now. With an xG of just 0.88, they struggled to create any sort of meaningful chance to at least challenge the St.Pauli goalkeeper.
The Bundesliga relegation battle gets scrappy:
While some teams (Heidenheim) look destined for the 2.Bundesliga next season, especially following their 2-1 loss to Hamburg, it is anyone’s guess who could go down with them.
Just three points separate 16th and 11th; Hamburg’s win has also sucked Borussia Mönchengladbach into the relegation battle now.
Mainz’s 2-0 win over Augsburg lifted them out of the relegation zone, while Bremen dropped down into 16th in Daniel Thioune’s first game in charge following a 1-0 loss to Freiburg.
With it looking like anyone can beat anyone in the bottom half of the table, the next 13 games will be very eventful to see who will go down and who will be able to stay up. This season has shown that poor runs of form (Gladbach and Bremen) can have you easily sucked into the battle when you least expect it.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
