My Bundesliga Team of the Season…if you ignore Bayern and Dortmund!

It’s normally a difficult task to put together a Team of the Season, however the dominance of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga and Champions League make the task that much easier.  Without needing to be a Bundesliga connoisseur, the likes of Neuer, Lahm, Dante, Hummels, Alaba, Gundogan, Schweinsteiger, Reus, Ribery, Muller and Lewandowski would probably grace the pitch of anyone’s Team of the Season with little debate.

However, to make things a bit more difficult for myself and to hopefully make this article a more interesting read, I’ve decided to create a Bundesliga Team of the Season without any Bayern or Dortmund players present.  In reality, many players from these 2 illustrious clubs deserve to be part of the Season XI, however there are a number of players who have had fantastic seasons for other clubs but unfortunately fail to get a mention besides the might of their Bayern and Dortmund counterparts.

Behold, my Bundesliga Team of 2012/13 (if we ignore Bayern and Dortmund!)…

Oliver Baumann (Freiburg) – The Germany Under 21 International goalkeeper takes the position between the posts after staring in an impressive season for Freiburg.  Baumann started every Bundesliga game, kept a league high 13 clean sheets and was a key reason why Freiburg had the 3^rd meanest defence in the league as they conceded just 40 goals (only Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen conceded less) on their way to 5^th place in the table.

Daniel Carvajal (Bayer Leverkusen) – After signing last summer for around £5 million, the 21 year old Spanish right back has had an excellent season at Leverkusen.  He was practically an ever present after missing just 2 league games and has been impressive in both defence and from an attacking perspective – he has averaged 3.4 tackles per game (joint 9^th highest) and 3.7 interceptions per game (joint 2^nd highest), as well as scored 1 goal and provided 7 assists.  He will not be gracing the Bundesliga unfortunately next season though as Real Madrid have exercised their buy-back option for a fee around £6.5 million.

Naldo (Wolfsburg) – Brazilian defender Naldo has had a good first season with Wolfsburg after moving from Werder Bremen last summer.  A strong, tall centre back, Naldo ranks high for both aerial duals won per game (3.3 per game, joint 7^th highest) and interceptions (3.4 per game, joint 5^th highest).  In addition, his physical presence has caused issues for opposing defence as he has managed to score 6 goals in the league making him the most prolific goalscoring defender along with Per Nilsson.

Heiko Westermann (Hamburg) – The versatile German International was an ever present for Hamburg this season after starting all 34 games.  Despite an inconsistent season which saw Hamburg humiliated 9-2 by Bayern yet get the double over Dortmund, the former club Captain impressed overall at the back – averaging 3.7 interceptions per game (joint 2^nd highest), 4.2 aerial duals per game (3^rd highest) and 7.3 clearances per game (3^rd highest).

Oliver Sorg (Freiburg) – The Germany Under 21 International is comfortable playing on either the left or right side of defence, although he has featured predominantly on the left this season.  Another standout performer in Freiburg’s impressive season, Sorg has been solid defensively having made more interceptions than any other player in the Bundesliga with an average 4.1 per game in addition to making an average 3.4 tackles per game (joint 9^th highest).

Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen) – The German midfielder and twin brother of Dortmund’s Sven, has had an excellent season for 3^rd place Leverkusen.  Featuring in all but 1 game this season, he has chipped in with 3 goals and 6 assists.  Despite this achievement, it is Bender’s defensive play that gets him into the team – he has averaged 4.1 tackles per game (3^rd highest) and 2.5 interceptions per game (joint 13^th highest) to help shield the Leverkusen backline.

Milan Badelj (Hamburg) – The 24 year old Croatian International has been a key member of Hamburg’s starting 11 this season having won 4 Man of the Match awards in 30 appearances.  Regarded as a deep-lying playmaker, Badelj has provided 5 assists with his impressive range of passing, averaging 58 passes per game (joint 9^th highest) and 5.9 long balls per game (joint 17^th highest), whilst being able to do a good job for the team defensively with an average of 3.7 tackles per game (joint 6^th highest) and 3.5 interceptions per game (4^th highest).

Heung-Min Son (Hamburg) – At just 20 years of age, the 2012/13 season was already Son’s third as an important Hamburg first team member.  In what has been a spectacular season and his best to date, the pacey attacker has found the back of the net on 12 separate occasions and provided 2 assists in 34 appearances.  His versatility and fine form has persuaded Leverkusen to part with a reported £10 million for the South Korean star.

Hiroshi Kiyotake (Nurnberg) – The Japanese international has been one of the shining lights at Nurnberg in his first season in the Bundesliga.  He has provided 10 assists, the highest in the league if you exclude Bayern and Dortmund players, and scored 4 goals to help his team to 10^th place in the league.  Kiyotake is a very creative player, completing an average of 2.5 crosses per game (2^nd highest) and 2.7 key passes per game (joint 4^th highest).

Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen) – The Belgian midfielder is one of the most sought after players in the Bundesliga at present, with both Dortmund and Leverkusen repeatedly linked to the Chelsea youngster.  De Bruyne has had a great season despite Werder Bremen’s poor showing, scoring 10 goals, providing 9 assists and winning 7 Man of the Match awards in 33 appearances.  Averaging 2.7 shots per game (joint 6^th highest) and 2.6 key passes per game (joint 5^th highest), De Bruyne is a game-changer and very dangerous when in the final third of the pitch.

Stefan Kießling (Bayer Leverkusen) – A fantastic season in front of goal saw the tall German crowed the top goalscorer in the Bundesliga with 25 goals in 34 appearances.  Combine this with the 7 assists he provided for his teammates and the striker was directly involved in 49% of Leverkusen’s league goals.  Dangerous with his feet or in the air, Kießling averaged more shots than any other player (3.6 shots per game) and won more aerial duals than any other player (5.4 per game).  His scintillating goalscoring form rewarded him with 10 Man of the Match awards (only Ribery won more), although he has yet to shine on the International stage having not featured for the German National team since 2010.

Players that didn’t quite make the cut but deserve a notable mention:

Goalkeeper – Rene Adler (Hamburg), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Borussia Monchengladbach)

Defender – Bastian Oczipka (Eintracht Frankfurt), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Philipp Wollscheid (Bayer Leverkusen), Atsuto Uchida (Schalke), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke)

Midfielder – Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Gonzalo Castro (Bayer Leverkusen), Max Kruse (Freiburg), Juan Arango (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jefferson Farfan (Schalke), Szabolcs Huszti (Hannover), Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen), Diego (Wolfsburg)

Forward – Alex Meier (Eintracht Franfurt), Vedad Ibisevic (Stuttgart), Adam Szalai (Mainz), Mame Biram Diouf (Hannover)

So, what do you think?  Agree or disagree?  Let me know!

(Stats and data via www.whoscored.com)

Schalke: Review of The Royal Blues’ Season So Far

After a great start to the Bundesliga season saw Schalke reach 2nd place behind leaders Bayern Munich, their form has drastically dropped over recent games. ‘The Royal Blues’ (Die Königsblauen) only suffered 1 defeat in their opening 9 games which included Huub Stevens’ team beating the current champions Borussia Dortmund in the Revierderby – arguably the most widespread and well-known rivalry in German football!

Even more impressive was the fact that the game was at Dortmund’s ground and was the first time Schalke had won the derby in nearly 3 years. This emphatic start to the season saw Schalke pick up an impressive 20 points from a possible 27 to sit comfortably in 2nd place in the Bundesliga.

Since then however, the team have only won 1 of their last 7 matches, picking up just 5 points out of a possible 21. Surprise defeats to Stuttgart, Hamburg and Hoffenheim, in addition to a defeat to fellow title hopefuls Leverkusen, have not helped Schalke’s cause.

This has seen the team drop from 2nd place down to 5th place, a massive 16 points behind Bayern Munich after Game Week 16. As every football fan knows, to win games your team needs to be strong in defence and clinical in attack. Schalke’s recent dip in form can be attributed to recent failings in both of these departments!

· Leaking more goals: In the opening 9 games, Schalke conceded an average 0.9 goals per game. In the most recent 7 games though, this has more than doubled to 2 goals per game.

· Failing to score goals: In the first 9 games, Schalke scored an average 2 goals per game. However in the last 7 games, this has nearly dropped by half to 1.1 goals per game.

The team have fared better in the Champions League this season as their dip in League form has not hindered their progress in Europe as much. Last year, manager Stevens led the team to a 3rd place finish in the Bundesliga in his first season in charge to guarantee direct qualification to the Champions League for this season. A tough draw saw them placed in the same group as Olympiakos, Montpellier and Arsenal, however the team comfortably finished top of the group, in the process remaining only 1 of 4 teams to remain unbeaten in the Champions League so far.

Schalke are one of the most entertaining teams in the Bundesliga. Stevens favours a 4-2-3-1 formation which sees the team control games through possession and accurate passing, before using their pace to attack down the wings and play early through balls to the striker. In fact, only Bayern Munich average more possession per game and a more accurate pass rate per game than Schalke achieve.

Dutch Striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is the most high-profile of Schalke’s players. Despite only joining in 2010, he is the team’s 4th top goalscorer of all time and led the Bundesliga goalscoring charts last year with an impressive 29 goals in 34 games. Huntelaar has struggled to reproduce the goalscoring form of last season though as he has scored just 5 goals in 16 League starts this year. In the Champions League he has been more clinical, scoring 4 goals in 6 games. Whether he will be around after the January transfer window is the key question though, particularly as Arsenal are repeatedly being linked with a transfer for him.

Playing behind Huntelaar is 22 year old Lewis Holtby, who is one of the most promising prospects in European football at the moment. He plays as a central attacking midfielder and has featured in all of Schalke’s Bundesliga and Champions League games this season, in the process scoring 3 goals and creating 7. He was eligible to play for England (his father is English) until he was capped by Germany at the end of last season.

On either wing besides Holtby, Schalke play a combination of Jefferson Farfan, Ibrahim Afellay or Julian Draxler. Farfan has been one of the standout performers this season in the Bundesliga. He has scored 3 goals, created 4 for his teammates and has been awarded the Man of the Match on 4 occasions. Farfan provides more key passes (3.3 per game) than any other player in the league and provides the 2nd highest number of accurate crosses per game in the league (3 per game).

Dutch winger Afellay, who is on-loan from Barcelona, has also had a great start to the season. He has scored 2 goals but his main strength is his dribbling (averages 2.9 successful dribbles per game) and passing (averages a 90% pass success rate). Draxler is only 19 years old, but has recently been capped by Germany and has featured in the majority of Bundesliga games this season which demonstrates that he is a more than able alternative for Farfan and Afellay.

One of the best signings of the season has to be Roman Neustadter. He joined Schalke on a free transfer from Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer and has become a key player for the team. He sets the tempo for the team, having made the 3rd most passes in the Bundesliga so far (average 66 passes per game) and has chipped in with 3 goals. His great form saw him win his 1st Germany cap in November.

Eintracht Frankfurt: The Bundesliga’s Surprise Package

As Bayern Munich continue to create ripples across German football with their fantastic start to the season which has seen them go 12 points clear of reigning champions Borussia Dortmund after winning 9 of their opening 10 games – including the setting of a new Bundesliga record for winning the first 8 games in a row – the football team arguably creating the biggest waves in German football is Eintracht Frankfurt.

The newly promoted team finished as runners-up in Bundesliga 2 last season and find themselves in the dizzying heights of 3rd in the Bundesliga. Under manager Armin Veh – who won the Bundesliga with Stuttgart in 2006/07 – Frankfurt were promoted back to the Bundesliga at the first time of asking after they suffered relegation in 2010/11.

So far this season, Veh has guided ‘Die Adler’ (‘The Eagles’) to the best ever start in the Bundesliga by a newly promoted team.

Building on Promotion

After being one of the 16 founding members of the Bundesliga, it is quite apt that the team are back in the league and performing so well during the Bundesliga’s 50th year anniversary. Despite operating on limited funds compared to some of the power-houses of German football and lacking many – if any – household names, Frankfurt are definitely disrupting the status quo.

After finishing behind Greuther Furth in the Bundesliga 2 last season and being promoted, Veh spent the summer strengthening the squad with the ambition being to survive in the league. After selling striker Mohamadou Idrissou and midfielder Matthias Lehmann who were part of the first team, the squad was boosted by the permanent signing of central defender Anderson Bamba and the extended loan of striker Erwin Hoffer from Napoli, who were both on loan at the club during their promotion season.

The team was further strengthened with the signings of Germany under-21 goalkeeper Kevin Trapp and Canadian striker Olivier Occean from rivals Greuther Further, attacking midfielders Takashi Inui and Stefan Aigner, holding midfielder Martin Lanig and defenders Bastian Oczipka and Vadim Demidov.

The club also retained the services of Meier, who along with new signing Occean, both topped the goal scoring charts in Bundesliga 2 with 17 goals last year.

An Unexpected Start

After the first 10 games of the season, Frankfurt have picked up 20 points from a possible 30 and find themselves on joint points as Champions League contenders Schalke and 2 points ahead of Europa League hopefuls Bayer Leverkusen. This great start saw Frankfurt go unbeaten in their first 6 games and win 8 out of the 10 games they have played so far.

Most notably, they have beaten European representatives in Bayer Leverkusen (2-1) and Hannover (3-1), as well as held reigning Champions Borussia Dortmund to a thrilling 3-3 draw. During this run, Frankfurt can boast the best home form in the league after making Commerzbank-Arena a daunting place to visit for the opposition as the home team have amassed 14 points from a possible 18. They also remain only one of the two teams yet to lose at home, the other being Bayer Leverkusen.

Frankfurt are also the 2nd highest scorers in the league – not surprisingly behind free-scoring Bayern Munich – and they have the 3rd best goal difference of all teams. Despite this great start to the season, Frankfurt find themselves in their first mini-crisis of the season.

After losing away to Stuttgart 2-1, then only managing a 1-1 draw against fellow new promotes Greuther Furth, Frankfurt find their next game away to Bayern Munich at the daunting Allianz Arena which could mean the likely scenario of only picking up 1 point from a possible 9.

The Importance of the Midfield Five

Praise should be given to Veh for the way he has shaped and blended the team so quickly. A key reason for this is that the manager has played the same 4-2-3-1 formation in each match and has kept a relatively consistent starting 11 which will have helped each individual understand what is required of themselves and the team. The key to Frankfurt’s impressive start to the season is their 5 man midfield – Rode, Schwegler, Meier, Aigner and Inui. The first 2 providing defensive cover for the latter 3 who like to attack.

The attacking midfield trio of Meier, Aigner and Inui that have been the driving force behind Eintracht Frankfurt’s goals this season. Meier has continued his goal scoring exploits from last season by netting 7 goals from the central position, making him the joint 2nd highest scorer in the Bundesliga.

Either flank next to him is Aigner and Inui, who have both scored 3 goals each and provided 5 assists together. Including the 2 assists that Meier has also provided, this means that the attacking trio have been directly involved in 20 of the 21 goals Frankfurt have scored.

Behind these 3 are the defensive midfield pairing of Rode and Frankfurt Captain Schwegler who not only set the tempo with their passing (averaging 54.4 and 52.1 passes per match respectively – the most in the team), but also provide defensive steel to break down opposition attacks. The pair have made the most tackles (2.7 and 2.8 per game on average) and interceptions (2.3 each per game on average) for Frankfurt.

The problem for Frankfurt may arise if there is a key injury to one of these five players or teams learn how to deal with their attacking threat. The team do concede goals – averaging 1.4 conceded per game and keeping only 2 clean sheets – and their 3 striking options of Occean, Hoffer and Matmour are yet to consistently get themselves on the score sheet.

Occean has been the preferred lone striker so far this season but the Canadian international has only found the net once in 7 starts, although his determination and work-rate cannot be questioned.

Contenders or Pretenders

So what does the future hold for Eintracht Frankfurt? They of course won’t be letting themselves get carried away with their great start to the season which currently finds them occupying in a Champions League spot, however a quick comparison with the teams promoted at the same time as them should provide both confidence and realisation.

Greuther Furth and Fortuna Dusseldorf have only picked up 3 wins between them all season, which is half the number that Frankfurt have achieved on their own. With away trips coming up to the current top 2 – Bayern Munich and Schalke – either side of a home tie to bottom club Augsburg, the next 3 games will have a big say in how seriously Frankfurt should be taken – are they genuine top-half contenders or a team a couple of key injuries from free-fall?