A turgid first half turned into a blistering second half, including a six minute period where Grosskreutz scored twice and Goetze scored a third for the league leaders. A late goal by Stefan Kiessling could not even cosmetically cover up an abject performance from the home side.
<div><figure class="external-image"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5355062993_2c860e6e51.jpg" alt="Robert Lewandowski"></figure></div>
<ul>
<li>If you want to beat the team with the stingiest defense on the counter, you can’t sit back and allow the team with the most proficient attack to come at you all day. Bayer came out and played like Turkmenistan taking on Brazil at the World Cup. They tried to play everyone behind the ball and hit on the counter, but they are too talented for such a small-minded tactic and they were burned by sheer ignorance of it. When they finally started to play after the Mourinho-esque three subs by Jupp Heynckes, they began to bother Dortmund. Had they done so from the beginning, they may have avoided the embarrassment.
</li><li>There is only one thing to like about Nuri Sahin’s play: EVERYTHING. After two or three missed passes at one point in the first half, I thought he has was having a bad match. The fact that this went through my head after two or three missed passes speaks volume to the way he controls the midfield. Between his positioning sense and his positional play, he has to be the best midfielder in the Bundesliga.
</li><li>Antonia da Silva’s substitution for Sven Bender was the greatest substitution ever made! Well it was due to an injury, but there may be something to it. da Silva set back and protected the backline, making his presence felt early and often. This allowed the rest of the midfield to move up in attack. During the first 15 minutes of the second half, where Dortmund scored their goals, Grosskreutz was playing as a forward and Sahin played so much higher on the pitch he was effectively a #10. For a searing stretch, Dortmund were playing 4-1-5.
</li><li>Manuel Freidrich has had better days. It would be hard to say he’s had many that were worse. On the first goal, he allowed the ball to get by him despite using his arms to control it. He lost Grosskruetz on the second off a flick-on by Lewandowski, as well. And as the elder statesman of that backline, he allowed their shape to break way too easily once they conceded the first.
</li><li>Shinji? Barrios? Zidane? Who are they? Meet Dortmund’s best forward: Robert Lewandowski. This was only his second start this year and he did so as a lone forward, the mythic English #9, battering the ball and waiting for every cross. And he was the MOM. His movement was pristine. Go back and watch the final goal and see where he is to receive the ball. If Groetze hadn’t nutmegged Adler, Lewandowski would have every right to have punched him in the sack. He set up the second with an amazing flick on. And his long distance bombs in the first half, not only rattled Adler, but pulled Bayer out of a deep line, allowing them to take advantage of his efforts in the second half.
</li><li>Now that Edin Dzeko is in England, can we finally start talking about Kiessling being the best linking forward in the league. He might have been before Dzeko left. Not only did he score, but was the one bright spot during an woeful Leverkusen performance.
</li><li>Dortmund is going to win the title. And deservedly so. 
</li></ul>

Seven Things We Learned from Bayer 04 — Dortmund

Seven Things We Learned from Bayer 04 — Dortmund - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img src="http://www.sportgate.de/typo3temp/pics/Die-Halbfinals-um-den-DFB-Pokal-wurden-ausgelost_e9ae1c1fc3.jpg" alt="Cup"></figure></div>
Finally Dusseldorf has come good for visiting dignitaries Bayer Leverkusen. After a poor run of form in the league at the LTU, the Werkself took apart Bayern Munich 4-2 in their temporary home to gain passage to the final four of the DFB Pokal. 
Klinsmann tinkered with his lineup a bit as congestion is building up for the Bavarian giants. He pulled Ze Roberto into the left back position to try and shore up a weak position and used Ottl as his replacement in the double six. He then went with a 4-2-3-1 with Klose giving Toni a rest. Overall a pretty strong starting XI, especially as Bayern have long been better suited to this formation, rather than the 4-4-2.
With this in mind, Bayer made easy work of Bayern, slicing through the holders to a 3-0 lead off goals by Helmes, Arturo Vidal and Barnetta. After the third goal, Bayer took their foot off the gas, and almost paid the price as Klinsmann’s substitutions worked wonders and they pulled two goals back in two minutes. The first came when Adler flopped at a cross that Lucio put away and the second came when Klose was left unmarked in the area to finish a perfect Ribery cross. 
The final 15 minutes was tense for the home side, with Adler making a couple of superb saves and the defense rediscovering their focus, but a fourth goal from the tireless Kiessling secured passage for Bayer. Bruno Labbadia joins Martin Jol and Thomas Schaaf in the semis.
Hamburg beat Wehen 2-1 at home. But a strong lead was almost squandered in this game, just as it had been in the headline game, when Frank Rost mishandled an easy Schwartz shot to pull the visitors within one with 3 minutes to go. As it stands, a first half goal by Petric and an own goal by Wehen’s Kopilas was enough to see the Dinosaurs through.
Meanwhile, Werder seems to have risen from the ashes after their come back against A.C. Milan and found their scoring touch. They put five past a hot Wolfsburg side at the VW. The game saw braces by Dzeko, Diego and Pizarro in a 7 goal thriller with Werder booking their place in the semis by a score of 5-2. 
They are joined by Mainz who upset Schalke last night.

Bayern Ousted as Bayer Join Werder, HSV and Mainz in the Semis

Bayern Ousted as Bayer Join Werder, HSV and Mainz in the Semis - 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

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The New Gaffer: Introducing Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen