German Bundesliga 2011, Week 11 Preview And Fixtures: Bavarian Derby Highlights Big Saturday

Germany has a lot of big games on Saturday. Seriously. Every game is big. Well, almost every game is big. The top eight teams in the country all play on Saturday.

SC Freiburg vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen

FC Bayern Munich vs 1. FC Nürnberg

The Bavarian Derby kicks off Saturday morning, and I feel mighty awful for Nürnberg. This could get ugly. Bayern are not going to be pleased after their loss last week to Hannover. Bastian Schweinsteiger returned to training after picking up a cold midweek. It will be interested to see what Jupp Heynckes does if Daniel Van Buyten can’t go due to illness. Jerome Boateng is suspended for his stupid red card last week. If Van Buyten can’t go, I’d expect Heynckes to drop Luiz Gustavo or Anatoliy Tymoshchuk into the center of defense. Pick: FC Bayern Munich 2 - 0 1. FC Nürnberg

FC Schalke 04 vs 1899 Hoffenheim

Holger Stanislawski’s side is in for a huge challenge on the road in Gelsenkirchen. The return of Vedad Ibisevic’s scoring will be huge as we approach the winter break. They’re going to be battling for that last Champions League spot with several teams by season’s end and picking up all three points on the road against Schalke would be a huge confidence boost going forward. Schalke manager Huub Stevens has preferred a central midfield pairing of Jermaine Jones and Lewis Holtby. It’s tough to argue with his results as of this moment with Schalke sitting third only one point behind second place Dortmund. It’ll be vital for Schalke’s backline to protect young goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall who’s in the net for the injured Ralf Fährmann. Pick: FC Schalke 04 2 - 2 1899 Hoffenheim

VfB Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund have the opportunity to make a statement tomorrow in Stuttgart by showing the rest of the league that they are truly back in top form. Stuttgart has ridden the back of some solid performances to 5th place in the table. Lucas Barrios is back from his latest setback, and he’ll be pushing Robert Lewandowski for his starting position back. Now that he’s back from his suspension, will Ivan Perisic see the pitch in significant enough minutes to make a true impact on the offensive end for Dortmund. I like that kid a lot. Stuttgart came back twice last week to draw against Nürnberg with Maza getting his first goal in the final minutes. They’ll need the centerback pairing of Maza and Serdar Tasci to be in top form to keep the likes of Dormund’s attack out of the net. Pick: VfB Stuttgart 1 - 3 Borussia Dortmund

VfL Wolfsburg vs Hertha BSC Berlin

In the “What Crazy Tactic Is Felix Magath Trying Now?” category comes word out of Germany that the man notoriously nicknamed “Saddam Magath” has banned all languages but German from the training fields. Will this bring the team closer? Their starting eleven against Hamburg last week included 4 Germans, 1 Swiss, 1 Brazilian, 1 Croatian, 1 South Korean, 1 Iranian, 1 Japanese, and 1 Greek. I’d love to be there in practice when they’re all speaking German. Mandzukic is growing on me as a talent, and even though I don’t think they’re a really good team (yet!), I think they’re good enough for this weekend. Pick: VfL Wolfsburg 2 - 0 Hertha BSC Berlin

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Hannover 96

Hannover is coming off a massive victory over Bayern Munich, and will look to continue that momentum on the road in Mönchengladbach. Now, while I fully believe that Hannover deserved their victory of Bayern last weekend, their goals were nothing that inspired confidence. I guess to beat the best you’re going to need crazy luck. The match features to the best young goalkeepers in the country (world?) in Marc-Andre ter Stegen for Gladbach and Ron-Robert Zieler for Hannover. We’ll have to keep an eye on the performances of Gladbach star Marco Reus as media reports in Germany are heavily linking him with a move to Bayern Munich. Pick: Borussia Mönchengladbach 0 - 1 Hannover 96

1. FSV Mainz 05 vs SV Werder Bremen

Bremen haven’t won in their last three matches. Last week, I was thinking “They’re playing Augsburg. This is a sure win.” They drew with lowly Augsburg. Am I the only one that expects much more than this side is giving us? It’s time for Marko Marin to actually put together a string of quality performances. It’s time for Aaron Hunt to play good. Claudio Pizarro is still the man. Oh, lowly Mainz. Lowly... lowly Mainz. They haven’t won since week 2. WEEK 2! That’s so long ago now. Pick: 1. FSV Mainz 05 0 - 2 SV Werder Bremen

1. FC Köln vs FC Augsburg

Augsburg is unbeaten in their last three and will be looking to pull themselves out of the relegation zone when the travel to Köln on Sunday. Let’s get to the point here, Köln got their head beat in last week against Dortmund. The Billy Goats need to right the ship, and hosting Augsburg is the perfect opportunity to do so. Pick: 1. FC Köln 1 - 0 FC Augsburg

Hamburger SV vs 1. FC Kaiserslautern

Hamburg only walked away from last week’s match with Wolfsburg with a point, but it was enough to finally pull them off of the bottom of the table. They were disappointed to come away with only a point, but one point is better than no points. It’ll be interesting to see what this Hamburg team ends up looking like once Thorsten Fink gets the chance to fully put his stamp on his team. I’m a big fan of Son Heung-Min and Lam Zhi Gin, and I hope that both feature significantly in the team going forward. Pick: Hamburger SV 2 - 1 1. FC Kaiserslautern