Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen all featured in the Bundesliga this afternoon with varying success. Bayern continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 1-0 win against St.Pauli, Bayer Leverkusen succumbed to a late Bochum goal to once again draw, while Dortmund were convincingly beaten by Mainz.
Elsewhere, a late Oliver Burke goal secured a 2-1 win for Werder Bremen in a clash in Northern Germany against Holstien Kiel.
Here is what we learnt:
Borussia Dortmund produce one of their worst performance of the season:
Last weekend, Dortmund overcame the odds to beat RB Leipzig, then in midweek they beat Sturm Graz in the Champions League. This weekend, they were then walked over by Mainz. The injury crisis cannot be a reason after their performances over the past week, this time Dortmund were just terrible.
A red card from Emre Can did not do Dortmund any favours but they did not put in a gutsy performance like last weekend they collapsed and were unable to create or produce anything. They had one shot on target, a penalty from Serhou Guirassy, and that was it. On top of this, after the red card, head coach Nuri Şahin should have brought on a replacement for Can, but instead moved Felix Nmecha to centre-back, which was close to a disaster.
With the November international break, Dortmund have two options they either continue with Şahin and focus on improving over the break, or they hit the nuclear option and replace him, however, the question would be with who? Dortmund’s season is all but over.
Jamal Musiala is Bayern’s most important player:
Musiala is in great form at the moment, since his return from injury he has six goals and one assist in six games. The 21-year-old is central to everything Bayern does and showed that today with his great long-range effort against St Pauli as well as creating the most chances (2) in the match.
Every player at Bayern is replaceable but Musiala is irreplaceable and a move for international teammate Florian Wirtz in the summer does not really make sense when you can hand the keys to the team to Musiala and give him a free role, without having to hinder his qualities or Wirtz’s.
Dieter Hecking gives Bochum hope:
Hecking has not managed in the Bundesliga since leaving Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2019 and before he arrived Bochum only had one point in 10 games. However, with their performance against defending champions Bayer Leverkusen, there is hope that they can survive and Hecking can pull something that last weekend seemed close to impossible.
Although Bochum conceded a lot of possession to Leverkusen, they were as effective on the attacking front as the visitors. With the international break on the horizon and the impending returns of Bernardo and Myron Boadu at the end of the month, Hecking will have a lot of time to help improve the performances of the squad even more.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
