The Bundesliga is back in action, with players and coaches changing teams, some more successfully than others. Let’s see who started the season brightly and who look like they’re in trouble.
BUNDESLIGA WINNERS
Can Uzun
Dominated Eintracht Frankfurt’s 4-1 win over Werder Bremen, with two assists and a tracer rocket of a goal that opened the scoring. Seems like Dino Toppmöller should give the Turkish midfielder more run this season. Maybe this is the team that can challenge Bayern for the title this year.
Ilyas Ansah
It really didn’t look like anything was going to happen when he brought down a loose ball while bracketed by two defenders, but he squeezed off an almighty shot to open the scoring for Union Berlin in their win over Stuttgart. He then started and finished the move that led to their second goal. The striker who just joined the Iron Ones from Paderborn made some kind of an introduction to his team’s fans.
Tiago Tomás
In a losing cause, the Stuttgart forward scored a spectacular goal when he backheeled Chris Führich’s cross off the far post and in. The Portuguese player only scored seven goals over two seasons for Wolfsburg, but maybe the Swabians should see what he does with more playing time.
Paul Simonis
The new manager of Wolfsburg (coming over from Go Ahead Eagles in the Netherlands) started his career in Germany with a 3-1 win on the road over Heidenheim, with a beautiful curled goal by Andreas Skov Olsen featuring among Wolves’ goals.
BUNDESLIGA LOSERS
Bayer Leverkusen
Growing pains are to be expected from a team that lost so many guys in the offseason (coach Xabi Alonso, goalkeeper Lukaš Hradecky, central defender Jonathan Tah, right-back Jeremie Frimpong, and attacker Florian Wirtz). Still, their 2-1 loss to TSG Hoffenheim featured an inability to defend a simple long ball from goalkeeper Oliver Baumann that led to Tim Lemperle’s match-winner. This situation bears watching.
Filippo Mané
It’s never good when you’re sent off in your debut for a new team, but the Dortmund defender’s red card was particularly costly. Borussia was cruising to a 3-1 win on the road when the Italian player dragged down St. Pauli’s Abdoulie Ceesay in the 85th minute. Danel Sinani converted the resulting penalty, and then captain for the day Eric Smith lashed home a thunderbolt to grab the draw for the home team. Maybe Mané and Dortmund will see better days this season. Maybe.
Paul Nebel
While the bulk of Mainz’ players were caught up the field arguing about a foul call, the defender couldn’t deal with a long ball by Köln and had to yank back Jan Thielman on a breakaway chance. The resulting red card led to Marius Bülter heading home Luca Waldschmidt’s cross in the 90th minute to get Köln the win in their first game back in the Bundesliga.
Ole Werner
His first Bundesliga match in charge of RB Leipzig, and his team gets smoked 6-0 in Munich. Granted, Bayern can make lots of opponents look bad, and you can argue that the defending champions were lucky (their expected goals was less than 2), but if the Red Bulls can’t find an attacking solution after losing Hugo Ekitiké, their odds for winning anything will be very long.
Yuito Suzuki
In a battle of the Burgs, Augsburg dominated Freiburg 3-1, in which an offside call spared Augsburg goalkeeper Finn Dahmen a humiliating goal from his own giveaway. However, the home team in Breisgau had a chance to open their scoring when the ball came to the Japanese attacker with Dahmen on the ground and only a defensive player standing in the net. Under no pressure, Suzuki slipped as he took the shot and put the ball over the crossbar. He just joined the team from Brøndby, so let’s hope he does better when other chances come his way.
William Mikelbrencis
This is a tough one. Players are taught to make sure a ball goes in when they see it going slowly towards an open goal. The Hamburg defender was only doing what he was taught to do from Yussuf Poulsen’s header in the 89th minute, but he was in an offside position. The Frenchman’s effort nullified what would have been a game-winner for his team and resulted in a goalless draw.