Bundesliga Preview

While the Premier League is the most followed, and Italy and Spain were dominated by Inter Milan and Barcelona respectively, the German Bundesliga was certainly the most competitive of all the leagues last season.





Down to the Wire.
Eight points separated 5th place from 1st when it was all said and done. Hoffenheim took the league by storm and were league leaders for 15 of the first 21 weeks before falling off and finishing 7th (Ibisevic's injury played a big part). Usual suspects like Bayern Munich, Stuttgart, and Hamburg were making their run. In the end, it was Wolfsburg who rose above the competition and captured the title by two points over Bayern Munich.





Plenty of goals.
Germany's top flight was arguably the most entertaining. Plenty of high scoring games as the league totalled 894 goals over the 306 game schedule, for an average of 2.92 goals per game. The Premier League averaged 2.47 goals per game, Serie A 2.6 goals per game, and the Germans even nip the Spaniards who averaged 2.90 goals per game (take away Barca's 105 goals and then see how it looks). As my friend Kirk would say: "Shots bring goals." And with the goalscoring talent on offer this season, there ought to be plenty of goals scored again this season.





Five you'll know more about.
So if you were to play a little word associtation, if I said Bundesliga players, you'd probably come back and say Franck Ribery. Well there are five players that are worth keeping an eye on as this season unfolds:

• Edin Dzeko, Wolfsburg: The Bosnian striker was a summer target of teams like Arsenal and AC Milan. And with good reason. You look at his physical stature, and his finishing quality, you see glimpses of Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who by blood is Bosnian). Along with Grafite, they combine to form a deadly goalscoring combination (they accounted for 54 of the Wolves' 80 league goals). Sure to give defenses fits once again this season.
• Vedad Ibisevic, Hoffenheim: The former Saint Louis University standout was tearing up the Bundesliga during the first half of last season, scoring 18 goals in 17 games, then he ruptured his ACL in a training game during the winter break. As he went, so did Hoffenheim's title hopes. They'll look to his return to help rejuvenate the side.
• Pavel Pogrebnyak, Stuttgart: The new arrival from Zenit St. Petersburg will be depended on to pick up the scoring slack left by Mario Gomez.
• Mesut Ozil, Werder Bremen: One of the stars for Germany at the UEFA Under 21s, he'll be given the unenviable resposnibility of filling Diego's boots.
• Mladen Petric, Hamburg: Actually scored more league goals last season than Ivica Olic, who departed for Bayern Munich. He'll be relied on to be the leading scorer again. He'll have help with Paolo Guerrero returning and Ze Roberto (former Bayern) providing the playmaking.

So How Will It Look?

Giving this some careful consideration, with all the changes and some of the surprising performers last season, I think the season in Germany will end up looking something like this:

1. Bayern Munich: They get top scorers from title rivals Stuttgart (Mario Gomez) and Hamburg (Ivica Olic). In addition, Louis van Gaal arrives as manager to bring a more attacking approach. How much will they miss Lucio?
2. Schalke 04: I think that the Gelsenkirchen side will bounce back this season and they have a stabilizing force in new manager Felix Magath (title winning manager last season at Wolfsburg) who knows the landscape well in Germany.
3. Wolfsburg: Magath's former team keeps their attack intact under new manager Armin Veh. The burden of European fixtures on the schedule will make repeating as champions more challenging.
4. Stuttgart: Replacing Gomez with Pogrebnyak will turn out to be a positive, and an old friend in Aleksander Hleb returns to provide the playmaking.
5. Hoffenheim: The team that captured everyone's imagination last season will prove that they're here to stay. Ibisevic's return is a big plus, as is the addition of Josip Simunic to shore up the back line.
6. Bayer Leverkusen: Bruno Labbadia departs as manager to Hamburg, in steps experienced boss Jupp Heynckes. Patrick Helmes and Stefan Kiessling return so the scoring power is intact, and Heynckes will work to improve the team's defensive performance.
7. Hamburg: Even with Olic' departure, there is enough playmaking and scoring power to keep things interesting. Priority one is to get that goals against total down (47 in 34 games).
8. Werder Bremen: First season A.D. (After Diego) will be all about maintaining stability. 50 goals conceded last season won't get it done and better will be expected of Mertesacker, Wiese and co. Tim Borowski arrives from Bayern Munich to help provide some steel in midfield.
9. Borussia Dortmund: A largely unchanged squad at Signal Iduna Park for the side that had the 2nd best defensive record in Germany last season. With other sides strengthening their squads, they run the risk of getting found out.
10. FC Koln: Lukas Podolski's arrival means the team will finish two places better than last season. They could do even better if new signing Maniche pans out in midfield.
11. Hertha Berlin: Too many departures (Voronin, Pantelic, Andre Lima, and Simunic) for Hertha to mount the title challenge they offered last season.
12. Hannover 96: An 11th place finish last season despite having the worst goals against record (69 in 34 games). Coach Dieter Hecking has signed reinforcements to shore the back line up and retains the services of German international goalkeeper Robert Enke.
13. Borussia M'Gladbach: The deck has been shuffled and the addition of Raul Bobadilla at striker (44 goals in 78 appearances for Grasshopper Zurich) will give them some attacking help.
14. Eintracht Frankfurt: Relying on midfielder Caio to step up and be the player the expected when he became their record signing a couple years ago.
15. SC Freiburg: Dominated 2. Bundesliga last season and have added some depth to attempt survival this season. Losing defender Daniel Schwaab to Bayer Leverkusen could be a problem.
16. VFL Bochum: A smaller warchest to work with than most other German clubs when it comes to transfers, they face a steep mountain to climb for survival. This is not a relegation spot, but they will have to playoff with the 3rd place team from 2. Bundesliga in a promotion/relegation tie.
17. FC Nurnberg: Gained promotion in said playoff in style but have a largely unchanged squad. Not a recipe for top-flight survival.
18. FC Mainz: Injruies in the preseason have hurt them, and there is just not enough quality to hang with the big boys.

For those that are German and are offended by my lack of umlauts, I apologize, I looked all over for them on this and do not have access apparently. Otherwise I hope you enjoyed my read on how Germany will look this season. If you have an opinion otherwise, I'll be happy to hear it.