German Bundesliga Week 16 Tipping

This week German Bundesliga has reached the second last match week before the 2-month winter break. Apart from the Friday mega blockbuster, there are plenty of important matches. I will not repeat the Friday match as I have made my preview previously. Last week I have tipped 5 correct matches and 1 correct score within them. Now here's my tipping for this week:

Schalke 04 (9th) vs Hertha Berlin (3rd) - Saturday: Schalke now is in the deep trouble. Their morale has reached to the new low after the lost against Twente in UEFA Cup match. Jefferson Farfan and Kevin Kuranyi again do not have confident at all, only Gerald Asamoah is in form in attacks. On the other hand, even though Hertha Berlin had also lost the game in UEFA Cup, their league performance is so confident. They seem they are really in peak morale and the defense looks very solid in the moment. This is the defensive match as both teams have very good defense. Orlando Engelaar, Fabien Ernst, and Jermaine Jones from Schalke are the key players in the match. I believe their performance is too important that if they can stop Hertha Berlin. My tip: Hertha Berlin win 1-0.

Eintract Frankfurt (12th) vs VfL Bochum (16th) - Saturday: This is a very close match. Frankfurt is very unstable at the moment, they totally lost the composure in the 5-0 humiliating defeat against Werder Bremen last week. They need to do now is to forget this match and keep carrying on. This match Frankfurt has the home court advantage so I believe they can pick up a bit to face Bochum. On the other hand, Bochum is still struggling at the moment, they cannot get out of the relegation zone. This is because their attacks are not creative enough to create goals. So they keep staying at 16th. They key of the match is who can pick up the pace quicker. Frankfurt has a slim advantage as they have home court advantage. My tip: Frankfurt win 2-0.

Karlsruher SC (18th) vs Werder Bremen (7th) - Saturday: Well, I forget how many game Karlsruher lost in a row already. They seemed hopeless. Even they showed their spirit to bounce back 2 goals after losing 3-0 against Hannover 96, it is still not enough for them. I do not think they can do something special against Werder Bremen this week, as the others have fast attacks that Karlsruher cannot stop. Werder Bremen on the other hand, showed how furious they were in attack last week. Their attack really rely on Diego so his performance will be the key of this match. This week Werder Bremen has the wonderful chance to build up the winning streak in order to catch up the position in the table. My tip: Werder Bremen win 4-0.

Energie Cottbus (15th) vs VfB Stuttgart (10th) - Saturday: It is very surprising for me last week that Cottbus was able to win. Probably this is the best performance of the season so far. It seems they have gained some confident before the winter break and this is probably very crucial for them in the second half of the season, as they are getting out of the relegation zone. I believe they will carry on this confident to this match and threaten Stuttgart in some extent. Meanwhile, Stuttgart did a very good job to win over Schalke last match and surely they gained back some confident. I only worry that this is because the "honeymoon" period of caretaking head coach Markus Babbel. And this is also the critical point of this match, as I did not see any special changes from Markus Babbel last match. My tip: Match draw 1-1.

Arminia Bielefeld (14th) vs Borussia Dortmund (6th) - Saturday: We cannot blame Bielefeld last match, as they were facing a very strong leader Hoffenheim and it is normal to lose the game. However, they seem they are improving in terms of attacks and defense, so I believe they can stand firm in this position. It is very unlucky for them in this moment that they are facing a tough opposition, including this week's Dortmund. Dortmund last week had a bored goalless draw against Wolfsburg. However, I believe this week will be easier for them to win the match as they have better class. All they need to aware is they have to defend well, or else Bielefeld have chance to score and win. My tip: Dortmund win 2-1.

Borussia Mönchengladbach (17th) vs Bayer Leverkusen (4th) - Saturday: Gladbach is as same as Karlsruher so far, they also seem hopeless. Their defense is very poorly organized that even the weakest attacking team Cottbus can score them 3 goals. They must do something in the defense or else they will keep losing. Marko Marin is the player who can save the team but Gladbach is too poor that he cannot save the team. Leverkusen last week only showed they only lacked of big match experience that led them to fail to win against Bayern. However, I do not think they will lose any confidence after losing Bayern, as well as Bielefeld 2 weeks ago. This is an excellent chance for them to bounce back and pick up the morale against Gladbach. My tip: Leverkusen win 3-0.

VfL Wolfsburg (8th) vs Hannover 96 (13th) - Sunday: Wolfsburg so far is in a good form. They stand firm in the league as well as qualified in the UEFA Cup Group Stage to show that they are now very solid. Even they drew against Dortmund last week, it did not hurt too much. Felix Magath did a great job so far to lea Wolfsburg to success. Their stable attack and solid defense can carry them through against Hannover this Sunday. Hannover even though they won the game last week, they also showed their inconsistency. So I believe the consistency will be the key of this match. My tip: Wolfsburg win 2-0.

1. FC Köln (11th) vs Hamburger SV (5th) - Sunday: Köln is still very tough so far. Even they cannot achieve anything better than standing at the mid table, I do think their performance earns lot of praises. Their central defense is one of the best in the Bundesliga, the only thing is they are sometimes outclassed by the others. Petit, and Novakovic are the most important players in the team to lead them to stand tough. On the other hand, Hamburger is still searching the winning formula away from home. Hamburger has potential to reach a higher position in the league, only the away form to drag them down. Piotr Trochowski is the most important player in the team and his performance is the key factor to search back the winning form away from home. So he is the key player of this match. My tip: Match draw 1-1.

That's it! Have a good week of football!