Bundesliga: Five Takeaways From Week 7

Matchday 7 in the 2012-13 Bundesliga campaign has come and gone. With the international break approaching and players away for two weeks, this was the last chance for clubs to make a statement about their intentions.

Move over Tasmania Berlin, the Bundesliga has a team fighting for the title of worst ever.

In their first campaign in the top flight, Greuther Fürth has been awful. They sit on the bottom of the table with only 4 points in their first 7 matches. The offense is anemic with only 2 goals scored, and they have the second worst goal differential at -9.

Fürth have now played four home matches to start the season. They have lost all four of those matches. In those matches, they have yet to score while conceding eight.

Tasmania has the worst record of any Bundesliga side in history with a record of 2 wins, 4 draws, and 28 losses. During their first seven matches they at least managed a victory while scoring six goals.

There is no doubt that Fürth is a small club and were expected to struggle this season in the top flight, but they could be historically bad at their current pace.

After a 2-0 victory at the Allianz Arena against Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich extended their perfect run to start the season to seven matches. They currently sit on 21 points with a +19 goal differential. Bayern are 5 points ahead of 2nd place Eintracht Frankfurt, 7 points ahead of Schalke, and 9 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern have scored 21 goals and conceded only 2. This is an average of 3 goals scored and .29 goals conceded a match. That’s pretty doggone good. The closest to goals scored is BVB with 17, but they’ve conceded 9 goals. The closest to goals conceded is Fortuna Düsseldorf with 3, but they’ve only scored six goals.

It took until Matchday 7, but Eintracht Frankfurt finally lost their first match of the season. Sunday’s match away to Borussia Mönchengladbach was always going to be a trying one. Gladbach were basically in desperation mode having not picked up a win since their opening league fixture back on August 25, and they have the experienced veterans to lean on to get the victory.

Frankfurt’s run of form was built on the back of an offense that has scored the third most goals in the league. Defensively, they haven’t been great, but they have always managed to “find a way”. They only have one clean sheet in the first seven matches, and that is low number for a side so high in the table. The best display of this “great offense and poor defense” came against Borussia Dortmund. Frankfurt had to make comebacks at 0-2 and 2-3 to earn a 3-3 draw.

Frankfurt’s run to start the season was nothing short of remarkable, and it should be looked at as a major accomplishment. After earning promotion back to the Bundesliga this season after one spent in the 2.Bundesliga, the primary objective above everything else was to secure survival in the top flight. Last season Hertha Berlin finished on 31 points before being relegated (Yes, they did lose the relegation playoff.). Frankfurt are already halfway to that point total mark after only 20% of the current campaign. There’s no reason to move the end of season goalposts just because you started far better than anyone would’ve expected.

We’re seven matches into the Bundesliga season, and Wolfsburg have five points. We’re seven matches into the Bundesliga season, and Wolfsburg are in 17th place. This team was supposed to be competing for European places this season and maybe even pushing for the Champions League.

After Augsburg’s impressive victory over Werder Bremen, they jumped over Wolfsburg in the table due to goal differential. Felix Magath’s wolves (Do they even deserve a capital case ‘W’ here?) have the worst goal differential in the league at -11.

There’s an important thing that may not be noticed everywhere. WOLFSBURG HAVE SCORED TWO GOALS THIS SEASON. TWO. THAT’S IT. There are 41 players in the Bundesliga that have scored that many or more goals already this season. They brought in Vaclav Pilar, Ivica Olic and the heavily sought after Bas Dost this summer to add to their scoring threat. Magath and Diego let bygones be bygones and the Brazilian returned from his year long loan spell at Atletico Madrid.

What in the world is going on in Wolfsburg? I have no idea. Someone help?

Things didn’t go to plan after Borussia Mönchengladbach’s opening day 2-1 victory over Hoffenheim. They drew three and lost two of the next five matches with a goal differential of -6. Their European campaign was not faring any better. After failing to qualify for the Champions League group stage and being relegated to the Europa League, Gladbach failed to score against Cypriot side AEL Limassol and then lost at home 2-4 to Fenerbahçe. They were in trouble.

The faintest of rumblings began to appear about the future of Lucien Favre. How long would the board put up with a side floundering around the relegation zone when they were supposed to be competing for European places again? Add into the fact that unbeaten Eintracht Frankfurt were coming to Borussia Park. This side looks like they’ve forgotten how to play football at times.

Oh. Wait. They remembered how to play. Quick and quality strikes from Juan Arango and Luuk de Jong gave Gladbach a 2-0 lead, and they employed a “bend but don’t break” defense that kept Frankfurt from scoring.

Gladbach is still a concern defensively. Last season, only Bayern Munich conceded fewer goals than the Foals. Through the first seven matches of this season, they are already halfway to last season’s final goal total! I know Dante was an excellent centerback, but Alvaro Dominguez is no slouch. Gladbach needs to solve the defensive issues.