Bundesliga Match Day 25: 2013-14

The Borussia derby
'gladbach haven't won in Dortmund since 1998. They were on course for challenging for 4th CL spot till a few weeks ago when Schalke suddenly decided to consistently win instead of throwing away their challenge. The first half was similar to the previous game where Freiburg prevented Dortmund from mounting any serious attacks. Though Lewandowski returned to the side, Mikhi, Kuba and Reus are still unavailable. Hofmann played in the hole with Aubameyang and Großkreutz on wings. In addition to stopping the Dortmund attacks, what 'gladbach did better than Freiburg was to go on counter attacks. The combination between Kruse, Raffael and Herrmann was really good. Raffael ran with the ball in the first half and was slightly lucky that the ball bounced back into his running path after a couple of tackles, gave it to Herrmann and moved into the box to get the return. Herrmann's cross found Raffael 6 yards from goal but Raffael's first touch was so bad that the ball went into the goal when he only wanted to take an extra touch before taking the shot. 1-0 to 'gladbach. Hummels went on one amazing run after intercepting the ball at halfway line and could have scored if not for a last ditch tackle. After another attack, Aubameyang hit the bar with a powerful angled drive. But the next goal was scored by 'gladbach when Max Kruse dummied twice to beat Piszczek and Weidenfeller to score the 2nd. Gif here: http://giant.gfycat.com/ImperturbableDependableBarasinga.gif

2nd half was fairly unadventurous till around 68' or so when Nordveit got sent off for 2 yellows within a minute. His first was when he kicked the ball away after ref's whistle. It wasn't even that bad and it happens routinely in almost every game but I haven't seen ref give yellow for such things in a while [may you spend a night in room full of black adders if you reference RvP's sending off at Camp Nou]. His 2nd was for a 50-50 foul and after being down to 10 men, it was mostly 'gladbach defence vs Dortmund attack. Jojic, the man with the golden leg, reduced the deficit when his shot took a critical deflection off 'gladbach player and wrong footed ter Stegen. Jojic scored another around 88th min but ref called a foul on Lewandowski for hitting ter Stegen in the face with his arm (right call too). Klopp got sent off when ref whistled for 'gladbach throw in when he felt it should have been Dortmund's (looked like 'gladbach throw in to me). 'gladbach held on for a famous victory in Signal Iduna Park.

The revenge of the München
Bayern München were on 49 game unbeaten streak in Bundesliga. After Dortmund's loss, they had a chance to increase the lead to 23 pts over 2nd placed side. Last time they lost was against Bayer Leverkusen. Last time they scored less than 2 goals in a game was at Bay Arena this season (before Arsenal managed the same at Allianz last week). So München had every right to consider the game as important and go for a win. What they did though, was put players like Thiago, Lahm, Ribery, Alaba, Martinez on bench. It was Rafinha-Van Buyten-Boateng-Contento back line with Schweini-Kroos double pivot. Götze-Müller-Robben played behind lone striker Mandzukic. As expected München had a majority of the possession but they had no meaningful chances. Except for Kießling, Bayer defended with 10 men and München found it difficult to play from either through the center or deliver from wing. Kroos almost always stays outside the box. Schweini didn't have enough space to make runs. Götze and Robben are too short to cause havoc in the box. So it was mostly Müller and Mandzukic in the box whenever the crosses came in. Easily dealt by the Bayer defence.

Bayer could have easily taken the lead when Heung-Min Son inexplicable missed the target from 8 yards after a great counter attack. Kießling could have scored when he was one-on-one with Neuer with no defender in sight when linesman wrongly flagged him for offside. In both the cases it was Boateng playing the wrong line. But with their first meaningful shot on target, Mandzukic rose above everyone to head past Leno from a Schweini cross. After half time, München quickly increased their lead after a glorious free kick from Schweinsteiger. As the inverted wingers plan was not working out, Pep switched Robben and Götze at HT and I think the free kick came on left wing after Robben got fouled. Rolfes almost scored a golazo when his 40-yard shot was brilliantly saved by Neuer. Ribery came on for Robben, Kroos got replaced by Thiago and Shaqiri came on for Mandzukic so that Götze moved central finally and Shaqiri went to wing. Shaqiri had a good chance to score but missed in the end. There were some nice saves from Leno as well and Kießling inevitably scored in injury time but that was not enough to stop München going 50 not out, overtaking both Arsenal and Juventus in the process.

Pep has been trying the 4-2-3-1 formation ever since the winter break and I think the change came about after they were beaten 3-0 by Salzburg when the home side took full advantage of Pep's single pivot 4-1-4-1 formation. It looks like only Lahm is suited to play the single pivot and everyone else (Thiago, Kroos, Schweini, Martinez) need someone along side them to excel. The double pivot formation with two very wide players (Robbery) creates very less chances though. Götze is also suffering as a result as he's forced to play too wide while he usually thrives in center. He was amazing for Dortmund when he was exchanging places constantly with Reus. Götze can do well as a wide player if he can go on counter attacks, thereby taking advantage of his pace. But if you ask him to play wide in a game you enjoy 75%+ possession, he is going to struggle.

If both München and Dortmund win next week, then the gap would still be 23 pts with 8 games left. If Dortmund drop points, München can win the title with 2 months to spare. They currently have 71 pts and have scored 74 goals in 25 games. Already into DFB Pokal semis and CL quarters. Been great so far.


PS
Hoffenheim took 2-0 lead and then Mainz stormed back to win 4-2 with 3 goals in 7 mins and move up to 5th place now. Favre with 'gladbach and Tuchel with Mainz have done amazing job so far. Hunter is back for the crucial period and his goal helped Schalke win on Friday night at Augsburg.

Some top saves last weekend from ter Stegen, Neuer, De Gea and Cillesen

Arsenal 0-2 Bayern München

Just consolidating a few thoughts I had post game.
Just consolidating a few thoughts I had post game.

Apart from the two goals, München hit the post with a penalty, they should have got another penalty, Kroos hit the post in the end, a brilliant pass from Kroos over the defence to Robben saw Fabianski make a finger tip save, there was one cross from right which was missed by at least 3 players.. It wasn't just passing for the sake of passing.

What's disappointing was Arsenal not following the textbook plan of playing 10 vs 11. After the red card, they had only one chance to score which was Koscielny through Özil's free kick. Apart from that, there was no plan of stretching the München defence or shredding them with pace. Completed just 3 passes in attacking third compared to München's 242. Just 3 passes over 50 mins is mind blowingly low!

München can play through center, they can use crosses [I was kinda chuckling to see them try to beat BFG with crosses :D] and they can counter attack. Even when they were 1-0 up in an away tie, even though Pep has previously never won at Emirates, they still kept attacking in final 10 mins. Very rare for teams to do that as they could easily be caught on the counter and see the score become 1-1.

After the red card, the formation was a lopsided 4-4-1. Ozil on left and Ox on right with Sanogo keeping the CBs busy. Ox didn't get much chance in attack but he helped Sagna in defending, though München didn't really attack on that side much. Özil left Monreal on his own.

Despite some criticism, I think Sanogo more than held his own well. He constantly troubled Boateng while Ox was burning Alaba and Dante was dragged out of position several times to his left. You have to remember that Lahm has been a constant presence in midfield this season and even when Lahm wasn't there, it was usually Schweinsteiger. Martinez was not used as DM much this season and no wonder Arsenal had fun in the attacking half as their fluid attack was confusing München players. München slowly started taking control around 15 mins though. After the red card, Pep did the right thing to move Martinez to defence and bring Lahm as CM. As someone said, Lahm is the gold medalist in decathlon of footballers. Kroos had 147/152 passes :o. Alaba was helped by Götze/Thiago while Robben and Rafinha were taking Monreal for a ride. I can understand Arsenal wanting to keep it compact in the center (and hence Monreal staying inside) but Kroos kept hitting cross field passes to the right towards Robben and Monreal had to be dragged out of position coz Özil was doing nothing to help him. Even if Monreal covers Robben, then there's Rafinha who was unstopped. And to pile on the misery, even Lahm kept drifting to right. I was waiting for Arsenal to win the ball and go on counters through Ox on the other wing but Pep did his homework well. Ox was totally isolated on his side as München kept playing on the other side. With no offensive threat to take care of, Alaba was so deep in Arsenal's half. Was surprised to see Ox get subbed for Rosicky. I don't think he was that tired and he was still a great outlet on that side for the counters. I can't understand Özil's non-substitution twice!

Non-Arsenal fans try to watch the 2nd half of the game where you can appreciate the runs of München players in Arsenal's area when Kroos-Lahm were playing right wing passes to Robben/Rafinha. München constantly probed for an opening with several players dragging Arsenal defenders around. Pizzaro did the same for Müller's goal and even before that there was one header from Müller (who ghosted past as usual) which hit the standing leg of BFG and went for a corner.

PS
1. Felt weird to see Götze and Thiago play on the wing during some moments in the game. What's weirder was seeing Thiago/Kroos occasionally take the ball from CBs with Lahm ahead of them both in midfield :o
2. As soon as Müller came on, I knew he'd score a goal like that. He just ghosts past everyone in almost every single game.
3. Was shocked to see Cazorla sacrificed. If anything I thought Özil would be gone as I felt Cazorla would contribute better to Arsenal [especially in a 10 vs 11 when Arsenal are expected to increase their work load] than Özil.
4. For Özil's penalty call, he was slightly offside. Should have made his fortune count. It was like a tribute to Utd vs Sunderland game =))
5. It would be a travesty if Kroos isn't a starter for Germany in the WC [I noticed Löw in the stands]. A true world class CM who reminds me a lot of Modric [been following Kroos since his loan at Leverkusen]
6. 3 yrs ago, Robben would have mentally disintegrated when Wenger made a 'you dived' gesture to him at the side lines. Improved his mental aspect a lot under Heynckes. Thanks, Jupp!

Match Review: Feyenoord 1-2 Ajax

Now then, Ajax entered Rotterdam winless against top half sides in away games this season. They haven't won away at Feyenoord since 2010. Frank de Boer's first visit ended in a superb 4-2 victory for the Rotterdammers after Man City's on-loan striker Guidetti scored a hat-trick. My first Der Klassieker at Rotterdam was last season when Pellè's 90th min goal gave Feyenoord a 2-2 draw.

But in contrast, Ajax were on a good run of form coming in to this game, having stayed unbeaten in Eredivisie since Nov 2013. March is when Ajax under Frank de Boer go up a notch - they only lost 1 game in the spring time [March-May] in last 4 yrs. Ajax were also on 3 match winning streak vs Feyenoord, with the recent 3-1 win coming in KNVB Cup quarter finals.

Daley Blind move to LB and Poulsen started as DM in center along with Klaassen and Serero. Feyenoord started the match aggressively in front of their own fans - no away supporters are allowed in the matches between these two sides. There were very few chances created by either side in the game. Apart from the goals scored, there was one header by Immers straight to Cillesen while Siem de Jong replied in kind with a header [very similar to the one Pelle scored] straight to Mulder. Some points I noted elsewhere:

- Joel Veltman has to learn the art of defending. He reminds me a lot of Pique and I want him to become a Vertonghen - someone who can pass well but can also defend well [my fav EPL defender last season]. Veltman has let Pelle win the ball several times which would have given a heart attack if I were watching the match live.

- Kishna got his first start for Ajax and provided the assist for Sigthorsson's first goal. Glorious change of pace to go past Bruno Martins-Indi and deliver the cross.

- This match was part of three epic clashes between former legendary players last weekend. Simeone vs Ancellotti and Seedorf vs Conte are the others.

- When Blind moved to LB, the midfield has lost a bit of control. Feels weird to say this but Blind at DM was working so well at Ajax. After Duarte came on, he was exchanging the LB-DM slots with Blind occasionally. This worked well vs AZ, failed spectacularly vs Red Bull Salzburg and did decently well vs Feyenoord. I think Blind/Duarte will need more time to develop an understanding for the exchanges.

- Bojan is one of the most technical players I have ever seen. If only he was more clinical. He had a glorious volley from edge of the box blocked on the line vs Feyenoord. Last I checked, he tweeted saying he'll be back soon from injury. [Got subbed off after 35 mins vs Feyenoord]

- Not all players go out on to the pitch to injure opponents but players do kick out occasionally. Not to injure anyone maybe, but usually out of frustration or as an act of retribution. Pelle intentionally elbowed Veltman twice in the face as he felt that referee didn't award him a foul previously. Clasie kicked out at Poulsen as he felt referee didn't previously award a foul when Poulsen and Immers went for the ball and Poulsen was late to the challenge [obviously, Poulsen is ancient]. te Vrete went so late into Cillesen that his goal kick was already across halfway line in the air. Players do it sometimes, yes. Depends on what kind of a ref you get. I prefer the teams to respond to the kicking in kind. I like Bergkamp for this.

- Poulsen gave a 20 yard through ball with his left foot. That is all.

- Pelle has been stripped off the captaincy for his recent transgressions and Clasie will now be the new Feyenoord captain.

- Ronald Koeman is no longer the Feyenoord coach

Ajax now have an 8-pt lead over 2nd placed Twente [who could only manage a draw in their game] and considering Ajax's unusually good form during the run-in mixed with easier set of fixtures [6 of their 8 games are against bottom half sides], Frank de Boer can become the first Ajax coach to win four Eredivisie titles in a row.

Stats courtesy Opta Johan and this.

Match Review: Ajax 4-0 AZ

It's always AZ Alkmaar, isn't it? Seems like almost every game against them is a memorable one. Ajax won a gritty 3-2 game in Alkmaar last season. AZ took revenge by winning 3-0 in Amsterdam in Dutch Cup semis which they followed up by beating PSV in finals. Ajax beat them 3-2 in Dutch Super Cup this season. Then AZ took revenge by beating Ajax 3-2 in Alkmaar in the first league game. But they don't have Verbeek anymore. Around Christmas, AZ were in terrible form losing 6 games in a row but under Dick Advocaat they picked up their performances. They won 5 of their last 8 before visiting Amsterdam on 23rd Feb.

Ajax were coming off what was arguably De Boer's worst loss as Ajax's manager [not the scoreline but the performance]. Red Bull Salzburg won all 6 of their Europa League group games and there's also the small matter of beating Pep's Bayern München 3-0 in a winter friendly last month. And they showed why they should be taken seriously in this year's competition. They pressed Ajax relentlessly, broke all the attacks before they even started and took 3-0 lead after 35 mins, the 3rd one a glorious goal from near halfway line by Soriano. Yet another year, Ajax are doomed in EL. After such a performance, the side needed to bounce back and they did in a glorious style.

With Serero and Boilesen injured, the usual midfield of Klaassen-Blind-Serero, which never got beaten in Eredivisie so far was replaced with Klaassen-Poulsen-Duarte. Ajax were brilliant in the first half and could have scored 8 if not for AZ's keeper Boer and some tame finishing. Once again, Bojan was good without scoring goal. Siem de Jong opened the scoring and Ajax were never troubled.


And like many of Kafka's stories, this ends here abruptly.