Clinical Pogrebnyak Hits Three As Stuttgart Rout Gladbach.

Saturday’s Bundesliga matches were laced with goals and filled with action. Wolfsburg and Stuttgart finally got themselves their first points of the season with impressive home wins, and Bayern Munich continued their poor run of form with a 0-0 draw against Koln. Elsewhere, there was a 2-0 win for Mainz away to Werder Bremen, and an exciting 2-2 draw between Hoffenheim and Kaiserslautern.

Bayern Munich 0 – 0  FC Koln

Louis van Gaal’s men absolutely dominated their opponents, but could not find the back of the net despite their dominance. Bayern Munich beat Roma in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday night by two goals to nil, but couldn’t keep their goal-scoring form up at the domestic level. Bayern Munich have not scored a goal in three Bundesliga matches in a row now, which is certainly a worrying sign for Louis van Gaal. Zvonomir Soldo will be delighted with Koln’s resilient defending against the Bundesliga champions, and a point would have been the target for Soldo’s side.

Kaiserslautern 2 – 2 Hoffenheim

Promoted side Kaiserslautern will be pleased with the result despite taking the lead in the match on 75 minutes. 1. FCK manager Marco Kurz will know that as long as his side pick up points, they can survive. On-loan striker Erwin Hoffer netted a brace after Luiz Gustavo put Hoffenheim 1-0 up, and Hoffenheim equalized through summer signing Gylfi Sigurdsson who looks an excellent prospect. Not a bad result for either side. Hoffenheim manager Ralf Rangnick has Die Hoffe playing with great enthusiasm and flair, and if they can keep it up they’ll be pushing for a Europa League spot by the season’s end.

VfB Stuttgart 7 – 0 Borussia Monchengladbach

Christian Gross’ Stuttgart finally scraped themselves off the bottom of the table with an emphatic 7-0 win over a hapless Gladbach side. A hat-trick from Pavel Pogrebnyak, as well as goals from Georg Niedermeier, Zdravko Kuzmanovic, Mathieu Delpierre and Ciprian Marica put Gladbach to the sword – and it could easily have been ten. Gladbach have now conceded 11 goals in two matches without scoring, which is a huge concern for Gladbach manager Michael Frontzeck. Stuttgart, meanwhile, will be hoping they can press on in winning fashion away to Nurnberg on Wednesday night. Gladbach will host St. Pauli on Wednesday, which will be a welcome sight for very sore eyes. St. Pauli are unlikely to test Gladbach as severely as they have been tested lately.

VfL Wolfsburg 2 – 0 Hannover 96

The pressure on Steve McClaren has lifted just slightly as he finally managed to secure three points for his struggling Wolfsburg side. Goals from Diego and Edin Dzeko, who have looked formidable lately despite Wolfsburg’s run of losses, pushed Wolfsburg to their first points of the season. Hannover were never expected to get anything from this match and in the end were prevented from causing an upset. Hannover manager Mirko Slomka will not be too disappointed with his side’s loss here, because Hannover have still managed a decent 7 points from their first four Bundesliga matches. While Hannover do look like they’ll be fighting relegation, the real test objective will be to beat the teams around them, which is something Slomka’s side have been doing recently. Wolfsburg needed this, let’s see how far they can take it.

Werder Bremen 0 – 2 Mainz

After Werder Bremen’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham in midweek in a Champions League group stage match, Thomas Schaaf’s side would have been looking for an improved performance at home against Mainz. Unfortunately, Mainz, who play with so much determination and enthusiasm under young coach Thomas Tuchel, shocked their opponents and deservedly dispatched them. Marcel Risse scored the opener from a very tight angle after he smashed the ball across Tim Wiese and into the top left-hand corner of the net. Tim Wiese definitely should have done better. Youngster Andre Schuerrle, who will complete a move to Leverkusen in the summer, scored the second and put Mainz out of touching distance. Great result for Tuchel’s men, who look to be totally motivated by their young coach.

Tomorrow’s matches will feature the Hamburg derby and the Ruhr derby, as well as Bayer Leverkusen v Nurnberg.