Contents
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Page 1The thorn in Julian’s heart
Page 2A German first division team has already been relegated
Who played against whom and how?
Setback for Xabi Alonso: only second in the heart ranking. But Christian Streich will soon be calling it quits.
Which game couldn’t you miss?
Hoffenheim against Mönchengladbach. One advantage of this sport is that even inability can be entertaining. For example, when two terribly bad defenses meet, the chances of scoring a lot of goals increase. Seven fell in Sinsheim, some of them very impressive. Like that of Hoffenheim’s Grischa Prömel, whose game is usually rather hands-on, but on Saturday he spun a ball wonderfully into the corner with his inside instep. His colleague Ozan Kabak, who had previously caught the eye with a backheel pass in the opponent’s penalty area, also hit the corner of the goal after a small central defender solo.
And then there was Gladbach’s Robin Hack, who, after his hat-trick, had to feel like one of those highly ambitious students who threw an entire group project on their own, only to be denied a good grade in the final presentation by completely unprepared, blushing, stammering fellow students become. Hack’s goal to make it 3-3 in the 89th minute was perhaps an unsuccessful cross, but perhaps it was also the expression of magnificent cunning. Ultimately it didn’t matter, because less than two minutes later Gladbach were behind again. And Robin Hack might now look for an individual sport.
Which game could you have missed with a clear conscience?
Bayern’s 5-1 win at Union Berlin. After all, we know what poor football we’re getting at the Alte Försterei this season. And after the exciting (and from the point of view of many neutral fans, quite refreshing) last few weeks, Bayern got what was expected again: a big win against a club close to the relegation zone. Thomas Müller is (still) less dynamic than before, but is still sharp enough to surprise passes like he did before the 1-0 win. You can still tell from Leon Goretzka’s game that he is angry about his recent non-nomination by the DFB. And Max Eberl talks about the negotiations with Julian Nagelsmann as if they were two teenagers in a relationship drama. “The separation is too recent for him, that it is still too early in his perception,” he, Julian, made it clear to him, Max. “The sting is still deep.” Maybe they can just stay friends for now?
Who was in the spotlight?
Marvin Ducksch and the law of the series. During Nagelsmann’s experimental phase, the man was once a national striker, but recently he had not scored a goal for more than 700 minutes – since the beginning of February. Which may have contributed to the fact that his team never managed more than one goal per game during this period (and Werder steadily moved closer to the relegation zone). VfB Stuttgart, on the other hand, had not lost a single game since the beginning of February. And so Ducksch, who scored his first goal against VfB on Sunday and shortly afterwards his second goal since Stuttgart’s last defeat, became a serial killer. Maybe he will get a role in the next Bremen crime scene, but he will almost certainly free Werder from relegation worries. You might have to ask the biologist Paul Kammerer whether and how these series and their endings are related to each other.
Setback for Xabi Alonso: only second in the heart ranking. But Christian Streich will soon be calling it quits.
Hoffenheim against Mönchengladbach. One advantage of this sport is that even inability can be entertaining. For example, when two terribly bad defenses meet, the chances of scoring a lot of goals increase. Seven fell in Sinsheim, some of them very impressive. Like that of Hoffenheim’s Grischa Prömel, whose game is usually rather hands-on, but on Saturday he spun a ball wonderfully into the corner with his inside instep. His colleague Ozan Kabak, who had previously caught the eye with a backheel pass in the opponent’s penalty area, also hit the corner of the goal after a small central defender solo.
