Hello and welcome to the third edition of the newly revived Gegenpressing Monday Bulletin. This newsletter hopes to provide a vital source of information for any serious Bundesliga fan, as we round up some of the most intriguing aspects of the matchday thanks to snippets of insight from our writers. Let us know what you think of the format and the talking points in the comments section below.
Borussia Dortmund bounced back from their poor performance in the Champions League in midweek with a well-deserved 3-0 win away at Union Berlin on Saturday, only their third ever win at the Stadion an der Alten Försterei.
“We knew what to expect, and we took on the challenge, which we haven’t always done here,” Nico Schlotterbeck told reporters. “Tottenham was children’s football, but we played proper grown-up football today.”
Particularly up for the fight was, predictably, captain Emre Can, who put Dortmund ahead with an early penalty but later had to be substituted for his own good.
Can needlessly shoved Janik Haberer. Union players demanded a red card; the referee correctly only gave a yellow. Ilyas Ansah then fouled Can, who made the most of it, leading the Union ultras on the Waldseite to label him a “son of a whore,” to which Can responded with a provocative gesture towards the terrace.
“Emre gives everything for his club and his team,” BVB chief executive Lars Ricken told Gegenpressing afterwards. “In a cauldron like this, you have to show emotion. You have to be able to defend yourself, and that’s what he did.”
“I always like an aggressive Emre,” added Schlotterbeck with a smile. “You don’t want to play against him like that. I’d rather have that Emre.”
Head coach Niko Kovac nevertheless thought it prudent to take his captain off “because there was a danger of us having to play a man down.”
That would have been a rather childish way to end an otherwise mature Dortmund performance, which saw the Schwarzgelben close the gap on Bayern Munich to eight points. Despite the grumbles, BVB are playing their best Bundesliga season since 2018/19, 16 points better off than at this stage last season and even two points ahead of Jürgen Klopp’s title-winning 2011/12 team.
“We just want to stay within touching distance [of Bayern] for as long as we can,” said Schlotterbeck. “We don’t want the title to be decided in February or March. Maybe we can get the gap down to four or five points, and then they might start asking questions.
They still have to come to us…” [Matt Ford in Berlin]
“It certainly wasn’t a derby for the history books,” said Hamburger SV head coach Merlin Polzin after the 113th Hamburg Derby ended goalless at a sub-zero Millerntor-Stadion on Friday night.
The lacklustre affair earned HSV only their third away point of the season—the other two having also come in 0-0 draws away at Borussia Mönchengladbach on the opening day and 1. FC Union Berlin on matchday 5.
HSV’s travelling support have only seen their team score four goals on the road all season, and they never really came close to scoring against neighbours St. Pauli, despite a plethora of theoretically attacking options on the pitch, on the bench, but ultimately only on paper.
Ransford Königsdörffer and loanee Damion Downs led the line again, but HSV’s only shots on goal in the first half came from offside positions. In the second half, the entrance of Jean-Luc Dompé, Rayan Philippe, and Robert Glatzel in a triple substitution had no effect. Ironically, HSV’s biggest attacking threat came from their centre-back, Luka Vusković, sending a half-volley just over the bar before heading straight at Nikola Vasilj from a corner.
The 18-year-old Croatian also stood out at the back, calmly and efficiently nullifying St. Pauli’s equally toothless attack, before taking issue with comments allegedly shouted by the home fans regarding his brother, Mario, who is currently serving a ban for a doping offence which he strongly disputes.
“I don’t know what the St. Pauli fans are thinking,” Vuskovic complained, after putting his finger demonstratively to his lips and allegedly spitting in front of the home dressing room post-match. “It’s disrespectful to attack my family and my brother like that. I’ve got nothing good to say about these fans.”
Head coach Polzin took his defender’s side. “We’re talking about an 18-year-old who carries a heavy burden because of what happened to Mario,” he told reporters. “Normally, St. Pauli and their fans handle such issues sensitively with mutual understanding. I can completely understand Luka’s frustration. When you’re met with these kinds of comments, words, demands, and gestures, it’s not what either club, or indeed the city of Hamburg, stands for.”
But that’s as heated as a freezing Hamburg Derby got. [Matt Ford in Hamburg]
Bayer Leverkusen could have scored three or four goals against Werder Bremen on Saturday—they technically had one ruled out unfairly for what was deemed a handball offence on Patrik Schick—but the goal that was scored 37 minutes into the match by Lucas Vázquez felt like one of the most important interventions of the club’s season.
Prior to the match, Leverkusen boss Kasper Hjulmand had admitted that he was feeling the pressure after a fourth successive game without a win in midweek against Olympiacos. “We’re talking about a mini-crisis or a week and a half,” the 53-year-old said. “With one win and then another, everything will be okay again. That’s how it is in football, but we need this win now; we have to get this win on Saturday.” Indeed, Hjulmand knows exactly how quickly the club can turn on misfiring head coaches. It is, after all, how he came to replace Erik Ten Hag just a few weeks into the season.
The clash against Bremen was poignant for both Leverkusen’s desperate form and the fact that it was indeed a defeat to Die Werderaner that cost Hjulmand’s predecessor his job. Anything but all three points would have made this week extremely difficult for the Dane ahead of a must-win Champions League clash with Villarreal. So it came with an avalanche of relief when Maza linked up perfectly with Vázquez to fire home Leverkusen’s only goal of the game.
The Algerian international has been a revelation at the BayArena this season with four goals and four assists in 24 games in all competitions, but what really stands out with the former Hertha Berlin talent is that he glides through defences like Florian Wirtz once did with such ease for Leverkusen. Perhaps such comparisons do Maza no favours at this point in his career, but packed full of new faces and untested potential, it is often the 20-year-old talent that has taken responsibility in the middle of the park. Maybe he won’t be “the next Wirtz,” but he’s certainly doing everything correctly to become Leverkusen’s next playmaker-in-chief. [Stefan Bienkowski]
Union Berlin’s 3-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, their first home Bundesliga loss against a team playing in Europe this season, showed their strengths and weaknesses.
Union sit ninth. Barring a shock collapse, the Berliners will be safe from the drop this season. At home, Union have saved their best for the Bundesliga’s bigger sides, beating RB Leipzig and Stuttgart, while drawing with Bayern Munich and Freiburg.
Dortmund and Germany defender Nico Schlotterbeck spent a season with Union. After Saturday’s match, he called Union’s Alte Försterei home “the toughest away trip in the league”. But Steffen Baumgart’s side have been too harmless up front to push for the top six. Union had Dortmund on the ropes before half-time on Saturday, but were unable to break through.
The Berliners are still struggling to replace the output of Benedict Hollerbach, who moved to Mainz in the summer. Only the Bundesliga’s bottom six and free-falling Borussia Mönchengladbach have scored fewer goals than Union’s 24.
Union’s top-two goalscorers, Ilyas Ansah and Oliver Burke, have just one goal each since September. While beating the drop is Union’s primary objective every season, any further ambitions will be undermined by their toothless front line. [Dan Wighton in Berlin]
Eintracht Frankfurt have conceded another three goals this weekend. On Saturday, Die Adler gave away a 1-0 lead to lose 3-1 to high-flying Hoffenheim.
That’s now 42 goals conceded in the Bundesliga. It is a new club record. The previous record dates back to the 1984/85 season, when Frankfurt had conceded 41 goals after 19 games.
Across all competitions, Frankfurt have already conceded 62 goals. Naturally, another record. And up next are Premier League side Tottenham in the Champions League.
Interim coaches Dennis Schmitt and Alex Meier have been unable to stop the bleeding, as they have now conceded six goals in two games since taking over from the fired Dino Toppmöller.
The fans certainly had enough. Traditionally, Das Waldstadion is one of the most atmospheric stadiums in German football. But rather than responding with boos and whistles when things fell apart against Hoffenheim, the fans fell completely silent.
Treating the team with silence is the fan equivalent of “I am not mad, I am just disappointed.”
It highlights one thing: director of sport Markus Krösche not only has to find a head coach who can turn things around, but perhaps also use the last week of the January transfer window to add to a team that lacks quality.
Edin Džeko is back in German football, and his impact has been instant. Last week, 2. Bundesliga side Schalke signed the 39-year-old striker on a free transfer from Fiorentina.
Schalke entered matchday 19 with just 22 goals; nine clubs in the division had scored more often than the Royal Blues, including relegation-threatened Greuther Fürth (26) and Dynamo Dresden (24).
Indeed, Schalke’s Veltins-Arena was the home of the fewest scored goals in the second division ahead of matchday 18. With that statistic in mind, it is hard to believe that Schalke are currently first in the division, pushing for promotion.
The lack of goals, however, has been one reason why experts like Felix Kroos, brother of World Cup winner Toni Kroos, have raised doubts about whether Schalke’s run would be sustainable.
“I can’t imagine what they can develop beyond their defensive strength, purely in terms of footballing ability,” said the 34-year-old DAZN expert. He sees particular shortcomings compared to their direct competitors: “If the other top teams also possess these fundamental defensive virtues, they are superior to Schalke in areas such as creating scoring opportunities.”
Schalke’s decision-makers, in the meantime, are hopeful that by signing Džeko, they have addressed their goalscoring problems. “With Edin, we’re bringing in a striker who has performed at the very highest level throughout his career,” Schalke director of professional football Youri Mulder said. “Alongside his experience as a leader, our team will benefit from his abilities as a target man and goalscorer.”
Obviously, there are significant question marks as well. Džeko is almost 40 and has struggled with injuries. Plus, he managed just two goals in 18 games across all competitions for struggling Fiorentina all season.
Going off his debut, Džeko may have pulverized those doubts just 30 minutes after making his debut on Sunday against Kaiserslautern. At the tender age of 39 years, ten months, and eight days, Džeko became the second-oldest debutant in 2. Bundesliga history.
For a while, it didn’t look like a successful debut. Schalke were down 1-0 thanks to a goal by Ivan Prtajin when Džeko came on. Prtajin then doubled Lautern’s lead in the 84th minute, and it looked like Schalke were in trouble.
But just three minutes later, Džeko would write history when he became the oldest goalscorer in 2. Bundesliga history. Then, in the 90th minute, Kenan Karaman would equalize for Schalke, and the Veltins-Arena exploded.
“Today’s game was an emotional ride,” Schalke head coach Miron Muslić said. “When you go 2-0 down in the 84th minute, you know how hard it’s going to be. But we showed real character, kept believing, and pulled one back through Edin Džeko. His piece of brilliance changed everything for us—it lifted the stadium and gave us the belief to go and throw everything at them.”
Overall, it was a brilliant game for the spectators at the Veltins-Arena, who, despite the positive results, have been starved for goals this season. Whether Džeko’s addition will lead to sustainable success and promotion remains to be seen.
Despite the two goals against Kaiserslautern, Schalke remain just 12th with 24 goals scored this season. In comparison, the likes of Lautern, Darmstadt, Elversberg (34 each), Hannover 96 (33), and Paderborn (30), who are also in the promotion fight, have significantly outscored Schalke this season.
In other words, Džeko’s goal on his debut is a good start, but the signing will only be considered a success if it culminates in Schalke’s promotion at the end of the season. [Manuel Veth]