By Olaf Goldbecker
Theoretically the Bundesliga passed the mark of one third of the season games on match day 8, but Champions League scheduling makes the standings uneven. Both participants, Wolfsburg and Potsdam, had to postpone their games. The league now goes into a three week break before resuming on the last November weekend. The current situation:
#1 Frankfurt, 20 pts – Two sovereign and expected wins over Sindelfingen and Duisburg for combined goals of 17-0 pushed Frankfurt on top and the opposition under pressure. Celia Sasic is best striker in the league now with ten goals. The high wins cared for Frankfurt now also leading the league in goal difference, the #1 tie breaker.
#2 Potsdam, 17 pts (+1 game) – Only one match could be played and this delivered a close battle at Freiburg where Potsdam went down prior to the break and needed a 88th minute game winner to capture the three points. The game against Essen was re-scheduled for December 21. Potsdam remains on track.
#3 München, 17 pts – Munich seemed to be on track as they finally defeated the lower ranked teams unlike in the past. One week ago Jena was beaten 5-0 – only to realize one week later that the old weakness still exists. 1-1 v Sindelfingen is an embarrassing result regardless of Amber Brooks and Erika Tymrak being absent to the US national team. Combined with the goal difference Bayern is now away from one game reach to Frankfurt.
#4 Wolfsburg, 15 pts (+1 game) – Wolfsburg gained a sovereign 4-0 win at Leverkusen and kept them in the chasing position before the game against Freiburg was postponed to December 11.
MID-TABLE
#5 Essen, 11 pts (+1 game) – Essen showed a strong performance in a 5-1 win over Hoffenheim, which made them climb to the fifth position. A hat trick in this game moved Charline Hartmann to the fourth position in the striker stats with six goals.
#6 Jena, 11 pts – The East Germans are surprising more and more in this season, which is the reason why this year they will not have any relegation worries. One week ago they slipped 0-5 at Munich but a 2-0 win over Leverkusen followed and Jena find themselves in the safety zone.
#7 Freiburg, 9 pts (+1 game) – Freiburg dropped despite showing one of their best season performances in the unlucky 2-1 loss v Potsdam. Given that the make up game is at Wolfsburg, the odds to rise in this one game are not good. The next game v Leverkusen is crucial for having a safe season, otherwise the bottom zone is getting closer.
#8 Cloppenburg, 9 pts – Four points in the last two games make the officials sleep a bit better in Cloppenburg. A barely convincing 2-2 v Duisburg was less than BVC hoped for, but a strong second half v Hoffenheim turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 win and some room to breathe, even though the feeling is that this roster must show stronger performances.
BOTTOM ZONE
#9 – Hoffenheim, 7 pts – A team that is rough to evaluate and that mainly lacks defensive skills to have a calm debut season in the league. After losing 5-1 at Essen and 4-2 to Cloppenburg, Hoffenheim dropped to the danger zone. In both games TSG was good in the first half and they would have taken four points with them at that time, but awful second halves with giving up seven goals cost the points. Next opponents are Munich and Frankfurt, it could be that Hoffenheim spends the winter in the relegation zone.
#10 – Leverkusen, 6 pts – In the last ranking we predicted that it will be decisive how Leverkusen’s young squad gets out of the losses against the top teams. The 4-0 loss to Wolfsburg was followed by a very weak performance in a 2-0 loss at Jena – a quick turnaround is needed now.
#11 – Duisburg, 4 pts – 2-2 draw at Cloppenburg and a 5-0 loss to Frankfurt are no surprising results for Duisburg in this season but FCR stays highly endangered in this season. While the next game v Munich does not look promising they are in desperate need of points in the last remaining game this year v Jena.
#12 – Sindelfingen, 1 pt – another non competitive performance was shown in a 12-0 loss to Frankfurt. Yet one week later Sindelfingen crushed Bayern’s chances on top and held them to a 1-1 draw. Not enough to stay in the league, but enough to hurt another club a lot.