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Germany: Weekend Bundesliga Preview [Fri Aug 26th, 2005]
The Bundesliga resumes after Pokal weekend with Giovanni Trapattoni under pressure, Köln riding high, and Falko Götz reaching a milestone.
Spieltag. 3 Preview
Top billing this week goes to the clash of Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart at the Weserstadion, where new VfB coach Giovanni Trapattoni goes looking for his first league win since returning to the German game. One draw and one defeat has seen the pressure turned up on the Italian, and last week's narrow Pokal win at Hoffenheim has the critics sharpening their knives.
In truth, it's all a bit early to expect much of Trap. He's barely back in the country and has had to completely re-organise a side that lost its coach and three of its best players in a few short summer weeks. Matthias Sammer is gone, and with him went Kevin Kuranyi, Aliaksandr Hleb, and Philipp Lahm. Lesser lights have departed too, and Trap is left to pick up the pieces and mould a new squad.
"I have been coaching teams for 30 years and I know how teams work," Trapattoni said this week. "The team hasn’t managed to change its mentality yet. We are not playing with confidence for the full 90 minutes. But rest assured, calmness and trust are improving in every training session," he added at his weekly pre-match press conference. "I know that my team is growing and that we are getting more confident. But I also know that Bremen will punish the smallest mistake on Saturday.â€
The former Bayern coach is still tinkering with his personnel and expects to continue to do so: "I have got a new team with a lot of players and various tactical options. Jesper Grønkjær, Christian Tiffert and Daniel Bierofka, when he returns from injury, can all play on the wings and therefore we play different football compared to last season. I must try things out and I can assure you that I know when I have to step in.
"I tried something new by sending on Mario Carevic in Hoffenheim and he scored a goal and set another goal up. Therefore I will continue to try things out. Furthermore it is always good when the players don’t know whether they will be in the starting lineup on Saturday. It keeps them on their toes,†he concluded.
Bremen, fresh from a hard-earned 3-0 win over Basel in midweek, have qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stages as expected, and won their opening two matches. Given the confidence they will now feel, it's hard to see them losing here especially with Cacau suspended for Stuttgart.
Also, Bayern Munich host Hertha BSC at the Allianz Arena. For Hertha coach Falko Götz, the match represents something of a milestone. It will be his 50th in charge of the capital club. In that time, he has turned the Berliners into a side on the verge of genuine contention from one that languished in the depths of an unforgiving league table.
Last season Hertha managed a draw here, but Bayern are playing well. Anything from this visit would rank up there with Götz's best moments to date. General manager Dieter Hoeneß has signed an extension until 2010 and will face his brother Uli, the Bayern counterpart, in confident mood: "We are not far off the top. We have established ourselves in the top five and we have the right stuff to do even better. It is a logical consequence that we will win a title at some time." Brave words. Time for brave deeds on the pitch.
Elsewhere, Köln put their 100% record on the line against a Kaiserslautern side who scored five and shipped three last time out against Duisburg. Lukas Podolski has been scoreless in the openeing two games, but is a good bet to nick something here in a game I fancy to end all square. Hamburger SV, fresh from knocking out Valencia in Europe in midweek, will hope to maintain their excellent start with a win over Hannover.
It's all gone so well for Thomas Doll so far this season, that I cannot help but get suspicious. Where has "Hapless HSV" gone? Ewald Lienen's visitors are no mugs, though, and I fancy them to get a point.
In the other games, Schalke should be too strong for a Borussia Mönchengladbach side who show all the signs of beginning an all too familiar slog against the drop, Wolfsburg play Leverkusen in the Autostadt, and Eintracht Frankfurt go in search of a first win against Nürnberg at the Waldstadion.
On Sunday, Bielefeld need something from Andalucia-bound Mainz, while Borussia Dortmund - out of the Pokal on Monday - have a test of character at Duisburg. Those matches will tell a few tales.
Brian O'Driscoll
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