3 – Likely number of German top goalscorers over the past 10 years by season’s end. With Ibisevic’s injury cementing his tally at 18, it seems likely that Patrick Helmes (17), Mario Gomez or Grafite (14 each) will end up with title of Torschützenkönig. BUT if Grafite were to win, it’d increase the number of Brazilians at the top over that same time to 4.
3 (Bonus) – Goals Schalke need until they break even on goal differential on the all-time Bundesliga table. At 9th place they’re currently the highest ranked team with a negative differential, 4 spots ahead of Hertha Berlin.
5 – Andriy Voronin’s hat-trick was only the fifth of the season. The others were Claudio Pizarro’s against Frankfurt, Grafite’s against Cottbus, Patrick Helmes’ against Hannover 96, and Demba Ba’s against Stuttgart. (Szabolcs Huszti gets an honorable mention for missing a penalty but scoring a brace later in the game versus Gladbach.)
5 – Games Hoffenheim have now gone winless. Furthermore, over this stretch they’ve conceded 8 goals. That’s as many as in November, December and January combined (although the latter two were shortened by the winter break).
8 – Seasons since the 1991/1992 (the first year of a unified Bundesliga) that featured a champion that did not also lead the league in goal differential. More on the correlation between goal differential and table position in a future post.
10 – Games Wolfsburg have won at home after their 1-0 victory against Karlsruhe. Across all competitions this season that number increases to 13. In fact, their only defeat was a 2-5 setback to Bremen during a mid-week DFB Pokal match earlier this month.
12 – Games (only one of which ended nil-nil) that Karlsruhe have failed to score in which, unsurprisingly, tops all teams. You might not be surprised to learn that they are also the only club not to have won a game by 2 or more goals.
14 – Goals scored (out of 22) by ‘foreigners’ (including German-born players who represent other countries, e.g. Hamit Altintop). This isn’t something I pay particular attention to, considering the Bundesliga is an international league. Neverthless, 64%? Is that the norm?

Bundesliga Matchday 23 by the Numbers

Bundesliga Matchday 23 by the Numbers - World Soccer Talk

0 – Number of wins by Frankfurt, the last remaining winless team 
5 – Total number of shots by Gladbach in their 0-1 defeat to Hamburg 
7 – Goals scored by Patrick Helmes this season, that’s equal to or more than 8 teams (Hertha, Köln, Hannover, Karlsruhe, Bochum, Cottbus, Frankfurt, and Gladbach) 
8.06 – The average number of points the average Bundesliga squad has after the first 6 games of the season. Compare with EPL at 8.35 and 20 draws after six games vs. 28 in the Bundesliga 
9 – Number of different goalscorers in the Bremen-Hoffenheim game. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/apr/30/1" title="The Knowledge at the Guardian" target="_blank">That’s quite an accomplishment</a> 
10 – Saves by Rene Adler to preserve Leverkusen’s 3-2 victory over Bochum, the most in a single game so far this season 
12 – Corner kick differential favoring Bochum in their 2-3 loss to Leverkusen 
14 – Minutes Christian Lell played before being substituted by Massimo Oddo 
16 – Times Christoph Daum has earned at least a point in his 18 meetings against Schalke 
36 – Minutes it took for the Bremen-Hoffenheim game to reach 6 goals, making it the highest scoring game of the week by halftime 
54 – Time of Possession, in percentage, of the losing teams this week 
1798 – Distance, in kilometers, of Madonna from Frankfurt on Matchday 6 (she was in Athens at the time)

Week 6 by the Numbers

Week 6 by the Numbers - World Soccer Talk

die Tabelle lügen nicht! Preview

die Tabelle lügen nicht! Preview - World Soccer Talk

<a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-labbadia-at-bayer-leverkusen/45/bruno-labbadia/" rel="attachment wp-att-52" title="Bruno Labbadia"><div><figure class="external-image"><img src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/2008/08/610x2.jpg" alt="Bruno Labbadia" align="right" hspace="15" vspace="15"></figure></div></a>A look at Bayer Leverkusen’s Bruno Labbadia concludes our The New Gaffer: Introducing… series this week. So far we’ve examined, in order: <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-klinsmann-at-bayern-munchen/24" title="Introducing Klinsmann at Bayern Munich">the journeyman</a>, <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-klopp-at-borussia-dortmund/25" title="Introducing Jürgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund">the company man</a>, <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-rutten-at-schalke-04/31" title="Introducing Fred Rutten at Schalke 04">the stranger</a> and, er, <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-jol-at-hamburg/40" title="Introducing Martin Jol at Hamburg">Martin Jol</a>. Labbadia is a mix between a poor man’s Jürgen Klinsmann and a poor man’s Christian Bale (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/" title="Christian Bale&apos;s IMDB entry" target="_blank">take a look</a>!). In other words, Labbadia was overshadowed as a player by Klinsmann, yet, like Bale, he has more coaching experience than Bayern’s new gaffer.
In his near 20-year long playing career he traveled the breadth of Germany from Kaiserslautern to Cologne (Köln) to Karlsruhe (and some cities not beginning with K, too). From 1991 to 1994 he played for Bayern München, making him the third manager profiled (alongside Klinsmann and Jol) to have played for the Bavarian giants. Interestingly enough he is the only player to have scored at least 100 goals in both the 1. (104) and 2. (101) Bundesliga.&nbsp; That’s quite an achievement for one’s resume, so immediately after hanging up his boots in 2003 he was hired as a manager.
He made his debut on the sidelines of SV Darmstadt 98, in the same stadium where he made his professional debut in 1984. He performed well enough in his three seasons with die Lillien (the lilies) to be offered a position with die Kleeblätter (the cloverleaves) of SpVgg Greuther Fürth, a step up in both footballing and taxonomic class. In his one year at Fürth Labbadia did little to upset the delicate equilibrium in place, keeping the club in its vexing “almost, but not quite promoted” table position (placing 6th last year and 5th the previous three). Not prepared to take part in the Germany’s most-played rivalry (the Frankenderby) with the relegation of 1. FC Nürnberg last season, Labbadia instead became Bayer Leverkusen’s 24th manager. He enters a fairly stable environment at the BayArena, although questions about the team’s strikers must be addressed before the team can seriously consider its first Bundesliga championship.
Dimitar Berbatov was the team’s last out and out striker, scoring 57 goals his last three years at the club. His move to Tottenham for 16 million Euros in 2006 left a void that has yet to be adequately filled. No Leverkusen striker remaining inspires much confidence. Patrick Helmes and Richard Sukuta-Pasu are still inexperienced, although Helmes did well in the 2. Bundesliga with Cologne and Sukuta-Pasu had an excellent UEFA U-19 tournament. The rest: Theofanis Gekas, Stefan Kiessling, Dmitri Bulykin are all older, but also relative newcomers to the club. None has stepped forward to take over Berbatov’s mantle. That is rather important because…
Leverkusen are consistent European competitors, except for the occasional unexpected blip caused by a marked decline in offensive output. If the trend holds (though there’s no reason to actually call it a trend) Leverkusen’s due for a fall soon. Each of the previous dismal seasons (1995/96 and 2002/03) were marked by lackluster offensive showings of 37 and 47 goals respectively. In all other seasons going back to 1990/91 Leverkusen have scored at least 50 goals and have placed no worse than 7th. The previous two seasons they’ve managed to scrape by with low topscorers, but that can’t last. Bernd Schneider can’t continue to provide goals and inspiration from the midfield at his age (he turns 35 this November). Labbadia must either find a true predator on the transfer market or hope that he is able to mold one of his current players into one, otherwise things look grim.
—
While this brings an end to the series itself there is one bonus tidbit as promised last week: a brief look at managerial changes in the Bundesliga over the years. Every 2008/09 Bundesliga club is listed except for Cottbus and Hoffenheim. Cottbus, as a former GDR side, and Hoffenheim, with their meteoric rise, would skew the numbers (also, it was impossible to find the information for either covering the 45-year time period).
Bundesliga-era number of coaches (teams with new trainers in bold)*:
Bielefeld: 42 
 Bayern: 20 
Bochum: 18 
Bremen: 25 
Cologne: 37 
 Dortmund: 40 
Frankfurt: 36 
 Hamburg: 26 
Hannover: 45 
Hertha: 33 
Karlsruhe: 27 
Leverkusen: 24 
Mönchengladbach: 21 
 Schalke: 38 
Stuttgart: 35 
Wolfsburg: 24
Bayern’s long-term dominance skews the statistics, but a pattern is discernible. My initial, unoriginal, thought that the number of trainers is inversely related to the degree of a club’s success is mostly true. Bayern, Mönchengladbach, Bremen and Hamburg are four of the five most successful Bundesliga sides and each have had 26 or fewer gaffers. Only Stuttgart with three titles and 35 managers is the exception.
* Not all clubs may have listed caretakers

The New Gaffer: Introducing Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen

The New Gaffer: Introducing Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen - World Soccer Talk

<a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/?attachment_id=38" rel="attachment wp-att-38" title="Bundesliga Logo"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/files/2008/07/bundesliga1.gif" alt="Bundesliga Logo" align="right" border="0" height="1" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="1"></figure></div><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/files/2008/07/bundesliga1.gif" alt="Bundesliga Logo" align="right" border="0" height="1" width="1"></figure></div><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/files/2008/07/bundesliga1.gif" alt="Bundesliga Logo" align="right" border="0" height="1" width="1"></figure></div><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/files/2008/07/bundesliga1.gif" alt="Bundesliga Logo" align="right" border="0" height="1" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="1"></figure></div></a><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/files/2008/07/bundesliga1.gif" alt="Bundesliga Logo" align="right" border="0" height="1" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="1"></figure></div><a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/?attachment_id=39" rel="attachment wp-att-39" title="Bundesliga Logo"><div><figure class="external-image"><img src="/files/2008/07/bundesliga2.gif" alt="Bundesliga Logo" align="right" hspace="15" vspace="15"></figure></div></a>The Deutsche Presse Agentur released a poll yesterday about predictions for the upcoming season. Bayern Munich was the unanimous favorite of Bundesliga coaches to repeat as champions. The most common reason given was the quality of Jürgen Klinsmann’s squad. What follows is a hasty translation of what each of the 18 gaffers had to say about Bayern Münich beginning with Klinsmann himself and the rest following in alphabetical order:
Jürgen Klinsmann (Bayern München): “Our own expectation is that we will be German champions. Titles are expected at Bayern.”
Edmund Becker (Karlsruher SC): “Bayern Munich are the favorites. Schalke and Bremen could try to exert some pressure on them from behind.”
Christoph Daum (1. FC Köln): “The title goes through Bayern Munich, because they have the best personnel by far. After that probably comes Schalke and Bremen, while I’m very excited about Wolfsburg, who have invested a lot in new arrivals.”
Lucien Favre (Hertha BSC): “Bayern Munich, because they have the best squad. Schalke and Werder will try to make life hard for them.”
Michael Frontzeck (Arminia Bielefeld ): “Bayern Munich have, by a wide distance, the best squad. Six national team players sit on the bench there. Bremen, Hamburg, Wolfsburg and Schalke will be on their tail.”
Friedhelm Funkel (Eintracht Frankfurt): “Bayern Munich, because they have the strongest squad, professional management and the best prerequisites. ”
Dieter Hecking (Hannover 96): “Last year I said Schalke, this time even I’m betting on Bayern Munich. I hope, however, that their dominance isn’t so marked.”
Martin Jol (Hamburger SV): “Bayern Munich are favorites for the championship every season.”
Jürgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund): “Bayern are always the favorites. They have the most options and the best squad. I’m really thankful that Jürgen Klinsmann introduced to the public training methods that we Bundesliga coaches have been using for years. It’s that old song: If 12 sandbags in Mainz are knocked over, no one’s interested. With the national team or at Bayern a single grain would suffice.”
Marcel Koller (VfL Bochum): “The usual suspects will be playing for the championship: Bayern Munich, Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen, maybe a surprise team as well. But Bayern are the clear favorites. They have the best quality squad.”
Bruno Labbadia (Bayer Leverkusen): “Bayern are, considering both the quality and quantity of their players, the best positioned.”
Jos Luhukay (Borussia Mönchengladbach): “Bayern München!”
Felix Magath (VfL Wolfsburg): “Bayern Munich will be champions. We want to affirm our pre-season position and reach an international competition once again.”
Bojan Prasnikar (Energie Cottbus): “My tip is Bayern Munich. They haven’t lost any key personnel and strengthened their squad. There isn’t another team in the Bundesliga with access to such a high quality, balanced squad.”
Ralf Rangnick (1899 Hoffenheim): “I think that Bayern, as usual, will get the title.”
Fred Rutten (Schalke 04): “Bayern Munich are always favorites in the Bundesliga, but Schalke have progressed well over the years and are always playing near the top. We want to do that again this year.”
Thomas Schaaf (Werder Bremen): “Bayern are once more the class of the league. But all the teams who were at the top last season have a shot again at the title.”
Armin Veh (VfB Stuttgart): “Bayern Munich are the odds-on favorites. Whoever has the biggest budget and spends the most money is favored. That’s how it is in this business.”

Bundesliga Coaches Unanimously Choose Bayern as Preseason Favorites

Bundesliga Coaches Unanimously Choose Bayern as Preseason Favorites - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/2008/07/bundesliga.gif" alt="bundesliga.gif" align="right" hspace="15" vspace="15"></figure></div>The fixtures for the opening day of the 2008/2009 Bundesliga season have been announced. All of these matches will be played on Saturday, August 16:
FC Bayern v Hamburg 
Schalke v Hannover 
Wolfsburg v Cologne 
Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Dortmund 
Eintracht Frankfurt v Hertha Berlin 
Karlsruhe v Bochum 
Energie Cottbus v Hoffenheim 
Arminia Bielefeld v Werder Bremen 
B. Mönchengladbach v Stuttgart
One of the most interesting matches will be between current Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and Hamburg. Both teams will feature new managers. Jürgen Klinsmann for Bayern, and Martin Jol for Hamburg.

Opening Day Fixtures for 2008/2009 Bundesliga Season

Opening Day Fixtures for 2008/2009 Bundesliga Season - World Soccer Talk

The 45th season of the Bundesliga has come to an end with comparatively little drama or theatrics. Bayern all but guaranteed itself the title with a busy summer in the transfer market, spending 70 million Euros on Luca Toni (the league’s top scorer), Franck Ribery (world class playmaker) and the rest. While this investment was able to secure first place in Germany, a return to Champions League action and a domestic cup, it could not secure the treble. Two (lucky) draws against a lower table Spanish side Getafe and an aggregate 2-5 drubbing by the Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg did remove some of the season’s luster. But ultimately with their 20th Bundesliga title in hand this year can be seen as a return to form for Bayern and their fans.
The names of the other squads returning to Europe has a familiar ring to them:
Both Bremen and Schalke return to the Champions League with Bremen automatically qualifying this year and Schalke going into the third qualifying round.
Hamburg, last year’s Intertoto Cup “winner”, enters the Uefa Cup proper joined by a Wolfsburg team who in 2006-07 had finished 15th, the last safe spot above the relegation zone, and Dortmund who had an uninspiring year but were runners-up in the DFB Cup.
Hertha Berlin are fortunate to be in Europe this year, being the lucky recipients of a Fair Play UEFA Cup first round qualifying place along with Manchester City and Denmark’s FC Nordsjælland.
Finally Stuttgart, the ex-reigning champs, have the pleasure of playing in the Intertoto Cup’s third round where, if they’re as lucky as Hamburg was last year, they’ll get to play a team from Moldova. The Intertoto Cup is slated to be abolished in 2009, so if Stuttgart (or any other German club) still has designs on European silverware the time is running out.
Bayer Leverkusen and Nürnberg both failed to emulate last year’s success. Leverkusen just missed out on a spot in Europe with their 7th place finish. Nürnberg took matters one step further by not only avoiding Europe but the 1. Bundesliga as well, choosing relegation instead. Being relegated as reigning DFB Cup holders stands proudly alongside the club’s unique achievement of winning the league one year (1968) and being relegated the next.
Joining Nürnberg are Hansa Rostock and MSV Duisburg, two squads who gained promotion only the year before. Karlsruhe, comfortable winners of the 2. Bundesliga, finished a respectable 11th in the table.
The 1. Bundesliga welcomes in their place two old faces: five-time champions Borussia Mönchengladbach and three-time champions FC Köln, and one very new one: 1899 Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim is only two years removed from playing in Regionalliga Süd, one of the various third tier leagues (soon to be replaced by a nation-wide 3. Liga). It is difficult to imagine them surviving beyond their inaugural season in the highest division, but they are sure to gain numerous fans from around the football-starved Heidelberg area in southwestern Germany.
As for the other clubs? Hannover, Frankfurt, Bochum, Cottbus and Bielefeld did just enough to stay within the safe band of clubs between spots 7 and 15 on the table to avoid mention. Sure, Cottbus and Bielefeld flirted continually with relegation throughout the season, but did just enough in the end. The rest managed to be solid, anonymous mid-table clubs. Consistent adequacy may not be glamorous, but it is reassuring.

Season Finale

Season Finale - World Soccer Talk

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