Leipzig’s new coach immediately meets the past, a keeper celebrates his debut and Hertha’s president plants a tender seedling. Everything you need to know about the 6th Bundesliga matchday.
Werder Bremen – FC Augsburg (Friday, 8.30 p.m.)
Between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. the Augsburg defense could actually chill a little on Friday, as boomers say if they want to sound young. Werder scored five of the twelve goals of the season in the first 23 minutes, the other seven goals came from the 86th minute, five of them even in stoppage time.
“It has a lot to do with self-confidence,” says coach Ole Werner about the late goals. Due to this self-confidence, the promoted team greets eight points from eighth place.
Things haven’t gone so well at FCA so far: Augsburg only have three points and have lost the last three games. “It’s important to be self-critical in these phases, but also to emphasize positive things on the pitch,” says coach Enrico Maassen.
By his own admission, he knows his way around lows: there were longer negative phases both at his previous club Borussia Dortmund II and at his first club SV Drochtersen/Assel. It is questionable whether he will get as much time in the Bundesliga as in his previous stations.
Bayern Munich – VfB Stuttgart (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
The focus at Bayern is clear: After the 2-0 away win at Inter Milan on Wednesday, next week we will face FC Barcelona with ex-Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski. He’s “absolutely” looking forward to this “summit meeting,” says Thomas Müller, “we’re looking forward to seeing him again,” says Leon Goretzka.
In the midst of the European club sandwich, the onerous compulsory task VfB Stuttgart now awaits. If you look at the sober numbers, it is a duel between two dissatisfied players in the league: Bayern have only played 1-1 twice recently (against Gladbach and at Union Berlin), Stuttgart are still without a win after five games.
Nevertheless, guest coach Pellegrino Matarazzo says what you say before a game like this: “If we act as a unit and fight back, we’re also able to score away in Munich. We go there to get something.”
RB Leipzig – Borussia Dortmund (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
The myth of the stories that only football writes persists. Of course that’s nonsense, because the supposedly unique scripts can be found in other sports as well as on all other levels of society. You just don’t look as closely as you do when the football coach Marco Rose is introduced as the new coach at RB Leipzig and in the first game “of all things” has to play against his old employer Borussia Dortmund, with whom he was less than four months ago had to go. “We all play in the same league, you’ll see each other at some point,” said Rose succinctly. Incidentally, the following week he goes to Gladbach, to his former ex-employer.
In Dortmund they won’t really care about the name of the opposing coach. Your coach’s name is Edin Terzic, and he’s had an excellent start to the season. Won four of five games in the league, in the Champions League there was a 3-0 win against Copenhagen.
However, Dortmund have a well-filled hospital to complain about: In addition to Mahmoud Dahoud, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Donyell Malen and Karim Adeyemi, Thorgan Hazard and the recently strong keeper Gregor Kobel are also out. Alexander Meyer (previously Jahn Regensburg), who made a successful debut against Copenhagen and is now playing in the elite class for the first time at the tender age of 31, is playing for the Swiss again.
TSG Hoffenheim – FSV Mainz 05 (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Under new coach Andrè Breitenreiter, the hosts started the season with nine points and are still without a loss at home. Things went a little better for the visitors: Mainz scored ten points in the first five match days. This is almost reminiscent of the legendary times of the Bruchweg Boys under Thomas Tuchel more than a decade ago, when the Rheinhessen were even allowed to sniff at the top for a short time.
Another service for nerds: In March 2021 there was a historic goal in this game. The then Mainz player Robert Glatzel scored the lead after 26 seconds – based on the time (1:31 p.m.) it was the earliest Bundesliga goal of all time.
Eintracht Frankfurt – VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
The medieval phrase “Paying the lesson” is a phrase that is rarely encountered outside of football. Eintracht Frankfurt had to pay a whole sack of tuition on Wednesday in the home defeat in the Champions League against Sporting Lisbon. The Hessians had played well and had many chances to take the lead, but in the end it was still 0:3. “Football is like that,” says Makoto Hasebe aptly.
Anger about defeats in the Champions League – that’s what they dream of in Wolfsburg these days. Under former Frankfurt player Niko Kovac, VfL have only collected two out of a possible 15 points and find themselves in 17th place in the table. The last time Klaus Augenthaler played five games without a win at the beginning of the season was in 2006. Statistically, the Frankfurt side are favorite opponents: the “Wolves” have won ten of the last 20 games in Frankfurt.
Hertha BSC – Bayer Leverkusen (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Urban gardening in the big city: After his team’s first competitive win last weekend, Hertha President Kay Bernstein planted an apple tree in front of the club’s office as a “tender plant of blue and white hope”. Hertha celebrated their first win in Augsburg on Sunday after three defeats and a draw in the league. “This first victory strengthens the spirit of optimism, which is why we planted this tree for all of us,” said Bernstein.
Meanwhile, in Leverkusen, they don’t even know how a spirit of optimism is spelled. Third division side Elversberg were eliminated in the first round of the cup, the Werkself are 14th in the league with just one win, and the Champions League started thanks to a slapstick goal conceded which, with all due respect, does not exactly come across as a European football Great power known FC Brugge lost. What led keeper and unlucky Lukas Hradecky to a not exactly flowery description: “If you’re in shit, then it’s really shitty.”
Schalke 04 – VfL Bochum (Saturday, 6.30 p.m.)
The small district derby, which is taking place again for the first time since 2010, is a difficult one for both: Both FC Schalke 04 and VfL Bochum are still without a win. Almost “business as usual” for the hosts, in four of their last six first division seasons they were without a three-pointer after five games. And the hope that the 2022 winless series will be history from Saturday evening has a name: Simon Terodde. The striker finally scored his first Bundesliga goal for Schalke in Stuttgart last matchday.
They would like to have someone like ex-Bochumer Terodde up front again in Bochum. Coach Thomas Reis’ team has been goalless for six hours, so VfL are without a point for the first time in their Bundesliga history after five matchdays in a season. But there is hope: of the previous 13 clubs that started the season with five defeats, eight managed to stay up.
1. FC Cologne – Union Berlin (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.)
There is a pitfall for FC: Union is the only current first division team that 1. FC Köln have never won against in their Bundesliga history. In six games there was a draw and five defeats. The way to a “Three” is through enduring legs: Cologne and Union Berlin, the two teams with the strongest runs in the league meet. So far, the people of Cologne have run an average of 117.3 kilometers per game, the “iron” with 117.1 kilometers hardly less.
However, it is questionable whether both of them can still complete this immense workload in a direct duel on Sunday, as both were out and about in Europe during the week: FC played in the Conference League accompanied by fan riots in Nice, Union lost in Europe League against Belgian representative St. Gilles.
SC Freiburg – Borussia Mönchengladbach (Sunday, 5.30 p.m.)
Superlative is by far the most cautious word form in football. But that’s the way it is: With four wins from five games, SC Freiburg made the best start to the Bundesliga in the club’s history. For the first time since 2000, the sports club is the leader of the table. And who cares about “that kind of thing”? Exactly, Coach Christian Streich. Even after the opening win in the Europa League against Karabakh Agdam on Thursday evening, he didn’t let himself be carried away to storms of jubilation.
The latter have not been an issue for the Gladbachers since last weekend anyway: after a good start to the season in terms of results without defeat and the near-victory at Bayern, Borussia wanted to improve the start with a home win against Mainz – and landed with a crash on the ground of reality: home defeat , Red injured against the hitherto strong defender Ko Itakura, Nico Elvedi and Alassane Plea.