Bundesliga current: Bielefeld wins outnumbered, Gladbach struggles – sport

TSG Hoffenheim – Borussia Mönchengladbach 1: 1 (0: 1), Goals: 0: 1 Embolo (35th), 1: 1 Akpoguma (90th + 1)

It wasn’t missing much and Borussia Mönchengladbach would have ended the year with a moment of happiness. A win in Hoffenheim would have released energy for the crisis-ridden club for the new year, possibly heralding a race to catch up. But for coach Adi Hütter and his team the shock moment came in stoppage time when Hoffenheim’s Kevin Akpoguma scored the ball to make it 1-1. With the draw, the Gladbachers stopped a series of defeats, but the late equalization should feel like another setback at first.

At first, the Gladbachers couldn’t be blamed for seeing the ball as a therapeutic tool. Table 13 wanted pass for pass. work out against Hoffenheim security. Borussia shied away from the big risk, their self-confidence was shakier than a house of cards in the storm after four partly severe defeats with 17 goals conceded. The people of Hoffenheim looked benevolently at the therapy session. Like a heavyweight boxer fighting a flyweight, they first allowed the attack attempts. If it got too dangerous, they blocked the Gladbach attacks as a matter of course.

With the Gladbach defense, TSG were less squeamish. The fourth in the Bundesliga consistently used the gaps. In the first half it sometimes seemed as if Hoffenheim were playing alone against Gladbach keeper Yann Sommer. The Swiss held sometimes worth seeing against Georginio Rutter (12/27), sometimes dutifully from an acute angle against Kaderabek (23rd) and Raum (28th). The Gladbachers did little to counter this: When Lars Stindl appeared lonely on Oliver Baumann, his shot was more like a pass – this time none that boosted self-confidence.

There wasn’t much to be said for the visitors to score at the time, but then Breel Embolo came on. The Swiss skilfully heaved his beefy body into a duel with Stefan Posch, won the long ball, but shot Baumann in goal. The subsequent corner landed again at the feet of the striker – 1-0 (35th). The attacker’s fighting, not only in this scene, infected his colleagues, they acted more defensively in all parts of the team. They had to, the Hoffenheim increased the number of strokes, but a possible penalty after a handball by Ginter (37th) was not given, Rutter found his master again in summer (65th), the accuracy was missing several times. Only Akpoguma destroyed Gladbach’s hopes. Nevertheless, the 1: 1 can be seen as the first small beginning of a therapy.

Eintracht Frankfurt – FSV Mainz 05 1: 0 (1: 0), Goal: 1-0 Lindström (35.)

“Lots of goals”, prophesied Oliver Glasner before the game and the Eintracht coach would have been right in the end if he had simply predicted a good game. Because that was the match between two of the best-form Bundesliga teams at the moment. Frankfurt took the initiative, Mainz held their own strong against it and it was then a wonderful counterattack that let the game tip over towards Frankfurt. Makoto Hasebe, almost 38 years old, intercepted the ball, played quickly to Sebastian Rode, who quickly played steeply again and in the end Jesper Lindström pushed in – Mainz lost both duels on the way to goal.

The match also offered some high points afterwards, for example a circular shot from Ajdin Hrustić over Robin Zentner to the crossbar, plus good Mainz chances, which mostly failed due to a good Kevin Trapp. The bottom line is that the result is a clear sign of the positive development that the SGE has undergone under Glasner over the past few weeks.

RB Leipzig – Arminia Bielefeld 0: 2 (0: 0), Goals: 0-1 Serra (57th), 0-2 Okugawa (75th)

Of course, Domenico Tedesco had it differently. Completely different. It started when the Leipzig coach had to replace Emil Forsberg after seven minutes – the more defensive Tyler Adams came into play. RB then tried to combine the Bielefeld defense with neat possession of the ball, which did not succeed. After a very tough first half, the events rolled over: First Janni Serra completed a Bielefeld counterattack to take the lead, then Arminia striker Fabian Klos was thrown off the pitch because he stepped on Willi Orban’s leg with an open sole – and outnumbered Leipzig -Offensive in, RB spoiled the ball from their own corner flag in an ambitious build-up of the game and conceded the 0: 2 through Masaya Okugawa. For Arminia an important and unexpected victory in the relegation battle, for Tedesco the first real damper.

SpVgg Greuther Fürth – FC Augsburg 0: 0 (0: 0)

The task was doubly difficult. Because SpVgg Greuther Fürth faced two opponents once again: On the one hand, the very real FC Augsburg was on the pitch, and on the other, the ghost from the Bundesliga past: Another defeat, and Fürth would set an inglorious record for Tasmania; Berlin had only one win and one draw with 15 defeats in the first half of 1965/66.

However, Fürth’s coach Stefan Leitl is very little interested in numbers – apart from the formation. He brought Hrgota and Nielsen back into the starting line-up and played a refreshingly aggressive 4-3-3, at least at the beginning. And in fact, Führt had to survive only a few dicey situations until half-time, for example when Augsburg’s Reece Oxford narrowly passed the box after a corner (17th) in the middle. Five minutes later, Fürth’s offensive force Timothy Tillmann came free from eight meters, but Augsburg’s Niklas Dorsch kept his foot in between.

Why there was a gaping hole in the Augsburg goal net at half-time that had to be patched up was not immediately revealed – after all, not a ball went in. Maybe the ghost was to blame. Augsburg now increased the clock rate, with chances for Andre Hahn after a cross from Jago into the six-yard box, which forced keeper Burchert to a great reflex (48th), later by substitute Ruben Vargas (67th). But Fürth found no way into the box despite all offensive efforts, so it stayed at 0-0. A heroic double success for the troubled Fürth people: Augsburg wrested a point. And defeated the Tasmania ghost.

VfL Bochum – 1. FC Union Berlin 0: 1 (0: 1), Goal: 0: 1 Kruse (16.)

It doesn’t happen that often in football that both teams can be satisfied. But Union Berlin completes the very good first half of the season with a win at VfL Bochum, who can also celebrate a very good first half of the season. How did the victory come about? Max Kruse had one of his Max Kruse moments early in the game when he scored the 1-0 dreamily with the first chance after dropping a header with a drop kick. After that, Union didn’t have to do anything for the game, actively delayed some attacks, Bochum had big problems with the iron swearing-in – and so the game ran out a bit. Konstantinos Stafylidis tried it unorthodox with a long-range shot, shortly afterwards he did it Elvis Rexhbecaj followed from a shorter distance, but that was all there was to it. But as I said: Both teams can be very satisfied with themselves.

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