Wednesday, October 29, 2008

German Bundesliga Week 11 Tipping

This weekend German Bundesliga will play their 11th match of the season. Last week I had 5 correct tips and 1 correct scores. Here's my week 11 tipping:

Bayer Leverkusen (2nd) vs VfL Wolfsburg (8th) - Friday: Even the distance in the league table is a bit far, the matchup in fact is quite close. Leverkusen continued the great form last match and they seemed their attacking is one of the best in the league. They continued the fast pace attack and Werder Bremen last match had no chance to fight back. At the same time, Rene Adler the new German no.1 goalkeeper keeps the excellent form and the defense seems stable. On the other hand, Wolfsburg is seeking for a stable form back again after their excellent run in 2 matches ago. Even though their attack and defense are looking solid, they are quite hard to stop Leverkusen as their recent form is not as good as them. So I believe Leverkusen will control the game. My tipping: Leverkusen win 2-0.

Werder Bremen (10th) vs Hertha Berlin (5th) - Saturday: Werder Bremen is in very poor form. Their defense is absolutely tragic even with Per Mertesacker, who came back from suspension last match against Leverkusen. Naldo is currently in very poor form and he does not do anything help to Per Mertesacker. So the opposition can go very deep easily. Hertha Berlin on the other hand is very solid this season so far. Even their attack and defense are average, they are still enough to go through the opposition. Considering the poor form from Werder Bremen, I believe Werder Bremen will be getting upset this Saturday. My tipping: Hertha Berlin win 2-1.

VfB Stuttgart (9th) vs 1. FC Köln (11th) - Saturday: Well, this mid table clash is very hard to call. Stuttgart is really relying on Mario Gomez on the attack, when he cannot perform, the whole attack lose the leadership. The midfield of Stuttgart is young, but average. They cannot provide crucial performance in the crucial moments. This is why they are stucked in the mid table so far. Köln is bit surprised for me that they are standing tough in the mid table, it proved their summer purchase was correct. The main problem is their attack, they are not really creative to create goals when the game is deadlocked. When they fall behind, it is very hard for them to bounce back. So the key point of the match is if Mario Gomez can breakthrough the game. My tipping: Stuttgart win 2-0.

Hannover 96 (14th) vs Hamburger SV (3rd) - Saturday: Northern Germany derby, but in fact the distance between these 2 teams are huge. Hannover even though had beaten Bayern München few weeks ago, it doesn't seem they can stand up tough after this. Their form is very poor and they can't get any winning formular so far. Mikael Forsell is still searching for his bes form yet, and Jan Schlaudraff does not have any helps. On the other hand, Hamburger didn't be affected by the huge loss to Hoffenheim last Sunday and they can keep the form well. Piotr Trochowski is still the man to watch. Base on the form, it is more than enough to say Hamburger should not have problems to win. My tipping: Hamburger win 3-0.

Bayern München (4th) vs Arminia Bielefeld (15th) - Saturday: Even though Bayern needs to consider the away game against Fiorentina in Champions League, even their defense have lots of problems still, they are still too good for Bielefeld. Bayern are now in the best form of the season, they won 3 league games in a row and started to climb back to the pole position. On the other hand, Bielefeld are still finding hard to get back to the form, so they are no match against Bayern. The key point of the match is Bayern must not get careless. My tipping: Bayern win 4-0.

Energie Cottbus (18th) vs Schalke 04 (6th) - Saturday: Being at the bottom of the table is not unfamiliar to Energie Cottbus. They do always have the problem in attack. They only know how to rush the ball, not create the ball. So the opposition is quite easy to stop them. Schalke 04 is very solid in defense this season, so Cottbus cannot even score against them this match. Cottbus, I believe, needs to work extra hard on scoring goals. If Schalke can score early, Schalke will have another huge win. My tipping: Schalke win 3-0.

Hoffenheim (1st) vs Karlsruher (13th) - Saturday: Hoffenheim seems they are unstoppable this season so far. Their attacks are the best in German Bundesliga so far, even better than Werder Bremen in terms of stats. As I mentioned, their attacks is so good that the others even don't have chance to hold on the ball. However, once the opposition are good enough to hold the ball, their defense is pretty vulnerable, they lost 2-5 against Leverkusen and 4-5 against Werder Bremen is the example. However, I still don't think Karlsruher will have any chance to hold on the ball as their quality of possession is not good enough. My tipping: Hoffenheim win 3-1.

Borussia Dortmund (7th) vs VfL Bochum (16th) - Sunday: The distance between these 2 teams are quite far. Dortmund so far this season are very energetic, as there are lots of young players like Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic in the team, with the lead of new captain Sebastian Kehl. However, their inexperience always leads them to lose goals or even fail to finish the game. On the other hand, Bochum is underachieving this season so far. The players fail to perform what they should perform. With Dabrowski is suspended this match, Bochum even lose the only chance to snatch a point. My tipping: Dortmund win 3-0.

Borussia Mönchengladbach (17th) vs Eintract Frankfurt (12th) - Sunday: Mönchengladbach is absolutely being over-estimated in the pre-season prediction. They have troubles everywhere because they believed the original squad is good enough to remain at the mid table. In fact, the players are always outclassed in the match and they keep losing goals and fail to score back. This is all the fault of the upper management. Even they replace the new coach, Meyer, they need time to recover. However, Frankfurt this season is not good enough as well, all the forms from the 2 winning streaks are all gone. So at most Frankfurt can only get a draw back home. My tipping: Match draw 1-1.

So this is my tipping this week!!

Monday, October 27, 2008

German Bundesliga Week 10 Tipping

This week German Bundesliga speeds up the schedule by opening the midweek entertainment. Here's the week 10 tipping:

VfL Wolfsburg (9th) vs Borussia Mönchengladbach (17th) - Tuesday: Wolfsburg last Saturday failed to win against Bayern München when they were 2-0 up. It showed the team was a bit inexperienced for protecting the lead. Andrea Barzagli and Zaccardo are not as good as when they were playing in Italy. However, their offense is quite fast to bring threats to the opposition so far. On the other hand, Mönchengladbach seemed to improve much after sacking the coach and Christian Ziege is now caretaking the team, especially in terms of defense. However, considering the better quality from Wolfsburg plus they have home court advantage, I believe Wolfsburg should not have problem to win. My tipping: Wolfsburg win 2-0.

Werder Bremen (10th) vs Bayer Leverkusen (2nd) - Tuesday: A blockbuster in Tuesday night. Werder Bremen this season so far show how fragile the defense is. They keep scoring but they keep losing goals. Last match the defense was better but the team was affected by the Champions League so they failed to win. The defense will be their key to 3 points in Tuesday. On the other hand, Leverkusen is currently on top form, especially Patrick Helmes. Their attack is so fast and furious that there are few teams which can stop them. Considering the fragile defense from Werder Bremen, I believe Leverkusen can upset Werder Bremen, at least they can get one point back home. My tipping: Match draw 2-2.

Karlsruher SC (13th) vs Schalke 04 (7th) - Tuesday: Schalke were seemed that was too heavy for them to play 2 matches in 3 days, so last week the match ended up with draw. Apart from this, it could be seen that their attacks were too simple and it was quite hard to break down the well-discipline defense. This is what Karlsruher has. They have well-discipline defense to lead them to stand tough in the midtable. However, it needs to consider that their fitness is not strong enough to hold on all over 90 minutes and they seem their attack is not as shape as last season, so if they concede goal first, they even are very hard to snatch back a draw. So the crucial point of this game is Schalke's attack. My tipping: Schalke win 1-0.

Arminia Bielefeld (16th) vs Energie Cottbus (18th) - Tuesday: A tough call, to be honest. Both teams have lots of problems in terms of attack and defense, so that's why they are fighting for survive now. The critical point of this game is the match performance. In this situation teams like them are really relying on their outstanding performance to cover their problem. Considering Bielefeld is a home team, they may have the upper hand. My tipping: Bielefeld win 2-1.

Hamburger SV (3rd) vs VfB Stuttgart (4th) - Wednesday: This is the huge match in Wednesday night. Hamburger last match showed their injury problems really hurt the team, especially in defense. They were powerless to stop Hoffenheim to score goals. At the same time, when Piotr Trochowski was forzen, the whole attacks were dead. On the other hand, Stuttgart's Gomez is currently picking up the peak form and he scored 2 goals in Sunday. So he will be the biggest threats to Hamburger this match. The key point in the match is if Hamburger can stop Stuttgart attack, and I do not believe they can. My tipping: Stuttgart win 2-1.

Hertha Berlin (6th) vs Hannover 96 (14th) - Wednesday: Hertha Berlin so far is very solid in terms of defense and attack. I believe the high rate of team work brought them to the 6th position in the table. On the other hand, Hannover even though they have team work, they fail to connect each other in terms of defense and attack. Espeically in defense, it is predicted to get worse when Robert Enke is injured. Last week Werder Bremen was just too tired to win the game against them. This time they won't be that lucky to escape from defeat. My tipping: Hertha Berlin win 3-0.

VfL Bochum (15th) vs Hoffenheim (1st) - Wednesday: Well, Hoffenheim always amaze the fans. Their attacks are so threatening that the opposition even hard to get the ball, so they keep winning. Obesi is in top form and he is the man the opposition to watch out for. His endless fitness brings lots of threats to the opposition. Even though Hoffenheim has lots of weakness in defense, I don't think Bochum is powerful enough to win them. So, Hoffenheim will still be at the pole position. My tipping: Hoffenheim win 4-2.

1. FC Köln (11th) vs Borussia Dortmund (8th) - Wednesday: Both teams are currently in the period of pro-peak form. It seemed they are dropping after the winning streak. Köln seems that the players are starting to fail to hold on the game and Dortmund is starting to fail to make comeback miracles. They key of this match is who stands up first and smiles last. My tipping: Match draw 1-1.

Eintract Frankfurt (12th) vs Bayern München (5th) - Wednesday: Frankfurt this season is totally different comparing with last season. It is because they are having a post-season slump, as last season was very good for them. However, following their 2 wins in a row, it seems the players started to gain their confident. On the other hand, Bayern this season is so disappointing in defense, Kahn's departure leads the team lost the leadership in defense, so they have lost 15 goals and there were only 2 clean sheets. However, the comeback against Wolfsburg plus a win against Fiorentina previously absolutely helped the players to gained back their confidents. Two comeback kids playing against each other this Wednesday, I believe Bayern will have upper hand by they have better quality of players and possessions. My tipping: Bayern win 3-1.

So that's it for this week!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

German Bundesliga Week 9 Tipping

From this week on I would like to try to tip the German Bindesliga matches. Here's my tipping on week 9:

Bayer Leverkusen vs 1. FC Köln (Friday): This is the first match in week 9 Bundesliga and will be played in Friday. Patrick Helmes from Leverkusen is in sensational form and he is the key player to lead Leverkusen to win this game. Köln now had won 3 games in a row, and the whole team is also in sensational form. The different o this game will be the quality attack. Leverkusen so far has a very good attacking players and tactics which can score against every team in the league. Considering Köln does not have capable ability to stop the opponent's offense, I believe Leverkusen will win this game. My tipping: Leverkusen win 3-1.

Hannover 96 vs Werder Bremen (Saturday): Werder Bremen had a thrilling game against Borussia Dortmund last week proved that even their attack was sensational, the defense was terrible. This match Werder Bremen will be without Per Mertesacker due to suspension. It leads Werder Bremen does not have any leadership in the defensive line and it looks very vulnerable. However, Hannover 96 this season is terrible and they have troubles everywhere. Jan Schlaudraff and Mikael Forsell are good players in attack, but they cannot bring any huge impact yet. Plus German international goalkeeer Robert Enke is injured, it is very likely to let Werder Bremen keep scoring. My tipping: Werder Bremen win 4-1.

FC Bayern München vs VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday): Bayern last week had won against Karlsurche was definitely critical. It led them to win against Fiorentina 3-0 comprehensively in Champions League. I believe their confident is gaining back. The biggest concern is Philipp Lahm is injured and he will not be able to play for at least 2 weeks. It is likely to assign Christian Lell to play at the left back, and it maybe the weakest link. Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath returns to Allianz Arena and this team is very solid in the midfield. I believe this match is very close and Bayern will win by their match experience and qualit finishing. My tipping: Bayern win 2-1.

Schalke 04 vs Arminia Bielefeld (Saturday): Schalke are currently performing the trophy winning form and it is very hard to crack them down currently. The home game against Bielefeld should not be a problem. The only concern is the scoring ability. Kevin Kuranyi never picked up his best form both before and after his shock departure from the national team. Also, Jefferson Farfan has not picked up his best form from PSV Einhoven yet. However, Arminia Bielefeld is not strong enough to challenge Schalke 04 because the players are simply not good enough to match them. My tipping: Schalke win 2-0.

Energie Cottbus vs Eintract Frankfurt (Saturday): Eintract Frankfurt had just won their first game against Karlsurche in Wednesday at this postponed match. Frankfurt players are not confident enough to score goals and win game, even though their defense do not have huge problem. However, Energie Cottbus has the worst attacking team in the Bundesliga, they always fail to finish the attack by scoring even though they have quality possession. This is really dragging them down to the bottom of the table. I do not believe Cottbus will be able to win this one. My tipping: Match draw 1-1.

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Karlsurhe (Saturday): Glabach has terrible start of this season and they are still struggling to fight off the relegation zone. Marko Marin shows himself he can be one of the stars in Bundesliga, but he cannot play constantly all through 90 minutes. More important is, it seems there is no one else to take Marin's job when his performance is dropping in the later stage of the game. Also, the defense of this team is not good enough to stop attacks from the opposition. From the Karlsurhe side, their performance is just OK, their attacks are really relying on Da Silva, the former Stuttgart player. Their finishing is the crucial point on deciding who will be the winner. My tipping: Karlsurche win 2-0.

VfB Stuttgart vs Bochum (Sunday): This match is pretty clear. Even Stuttgart is not as good as last two season when they won the Bundesliga, they still have a good team. Mario Gomez is the key member of the offense and Tasci is holding the defensive role. They look very solid with the leadership of captain Thomas Hitzlsperger and they are good enough to beat Bochum. Even Bochum did well in last two matches, especially equalizing Bayern München 3-3 in last 8 minutes, I do not see any point that Bochum can snatch a point even. My tipping: Stuttgart win 3-0.

Borussia Dortmund vs Hertha Berlin (Sunday): Dortmund last match has equalized Werder Bremen 3-3 in the thrilling match showed their defense is not really good. Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels are not experienced enough then leads the team to allowed so many goals, plus goalkeeper Wiedenfeller's poor performance let the team down as well. Hertha Berlin are pretty solid so far, their attacks and defense are pretty promising. So I think Hertha Berlin can able to upset Dortmund. My tipping: Hertha Berlin win 2-1.

Hoffenheim vs Hamburg (Sunday): Is there anyone predict that this match is a top table clash this week in the beginning of this season? Hoffenheim has a sensational form so far and it gains so many respects. Their attacking is so creative and fast that can compare with Werder Bremen. When facing Hamburg, which most of their defenders are injured and not fit, I believe it is not a hard job for Hoffenheim to keep scoring. However, Piotr Trochowski from Hamburg is really threatening in the midfield and he is the centre of the attack. When he performs, the whole team performs. When he is frozen, Hamburg will be in deep trouble. I believe this game will be the high scoring game. My tipping: Match draw 3-3.