Bundesliga Matchday Six: Hertha In Hot Water

The Oktoberfest kicked off in Munich with a derby between Nuremberg and Bayern. Nuremberg lost the derby, but left with their heads held high unlike Oberhosen two days later. Surprise, surprise—Ivica Olic opened the scoring after an excellent team move involving Thomas Muller.

However, an equalizer from Eric Maxim Chuopo-Mating was indeed surprising, but, as usual, was the result of poor defending by Bayern. During these times, all you need is a Belgian Colossus. Yep, Daniel van Buyten is the guy I am talking about. His header won Bayern the derby.

It seems to be a case of deja-vu for Bruno Labbadia. Just as his Bayer side last season, Hamburg started well. They however lost to Rapid Wien in the Europa League. Against Eintracht, Ze Roberto opened the scoring with a header, but Marco Russ equalized. Despite numerous chances in the second half, Hamburg failed to find a winner and the match ended 1-1.

Guess what?—They also got eliminated from the German Cup against Osnabruck.

Hertha are in the relegation zone currently. They lost to promoted Freiburg. Ivica Banovic scored a double, while Mohamed Idrissou and Cedric Makladi scored the other two.

Felix Magath's Schalke were beaten by Wolfsburg. Edin Dzeko scored a double (and he missed two golden opportunities against Koln midweek in the cup). Benedikt Howedes scored for Schalke.

Bochum and Mainz played out a highly intense match. Mimoun Azaouagh and Diego Klimowicz scored for Bochum. For Mainz, Andreas Ivanschitz scored the opener. However, it was a magic double from an 18-year-old, Andre Schuerrle which won the game for Mainz.

Markus Babel needs to complete his training really fast. His Stuttgart side are heading downwards. Koln on their day are a good side but Stuttgart should be able to defeat them. Instead, they lost 2-0 due to goals from Sebastian Freis and Wilfred Sanou.

Dortmund and Hanover played out a bad-tempered draw with goals from Nuri Sahin and Didier Ya-Konan. Bayer, who had the chance to go top instead drew 0-0 with Werder, in a match which was expected to be a goalfest.

The most exciting match of the weekend took place between Gladbach and Hoffenheim. Gladbach took a 2-0 lead via Juan Arango and Roberto Colautti. Sejad Salihovic's freekick made the score 2-1. Sub Maicosuel scored the equalizer. Two goals at the death via Chinedu Obasi and Demba Ba gave Hoff the match.

Hamburg and Bayer are tied at the top this week with Bayern in third.

Next week should be interesting: Bayern play Hamburg!