Bundesliga 2024/25 - 4. Spieltag - 20-22nd September, 2024

[Stan]

all kick-offs 14.30 (BST)

Friday 20th September, 2024
Augsburg vs Mainz, 19.30

Saturday 21st September, 2024
Bochum vs Holstein Kiel
Heidenheim vs Freiburg
Union Berlin vs Hoffenheim
Werder Bremen vs Bayern Munich

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Monchengladbach, 17.30

Sunday 22nd September, 2024
Bayer Leverkusen vs Wolfsburg

Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund, 16.30

St Pauli vs RB Leipzig, 18.30

[Michael]

Mainz still find themselves in the lead, despite having a Amiri sent off in the 1st half against Augsburg. Burkhardt and Sieb had given Mainz the visitors a 2-0 lead after only 15 minutes of the match having been played. Augsburg equalised in the 25th minute through Keven Schlotterbeck and then 10 minutes later, in the 35th minute, Mainz's Amiri was sent-off. Mainz would hold on to their 2-1 lead until half-time. 

However, in the 2nd half, Burkhardt would score his 2nd goal of the game and Mainz's 3rd goal to extend Mainz's lead over Augsburg in the 49th minute of the 2nd half. Augsburg would pull a goal back through Essende in the 57th minute, but Essende would then get himself sent-off in the 70th minute and consequently cancel out Augsburg's 1 man advantage. With 15 minutes left to play of normal time, the score is still Augsburg 2-3 Mainz.

I have to say that I am surprised that Augsburg loaned out their forwards Beljo(to Rapid Vienna) and Cardona(to Espanyol). Because I really do not rate Essende, he is 26 and he has never really been prolific in his career and he has mostly played in 2nd tier divisions/leagues during his career.

Beljo has a lot of potential, he's still very young, but he has proven he can score goals at a good level. He has already been capped twice by Croatia and he already looks a dangerous forward. While Cardona provides a dangerous attacking threat. Cardona has been excellent for Brest and St.Etienne over the past 5 years and he was highly rated when he started out his career at Monaco. I think that Augsburg really shouldn't have loaned out Beljo or Cardona this season, because quite frankly, Essende doesn't impress me at all. 

Augsburg 2-3 Mainz

[Rucksackfranzose]

11 minutes ago, Michael said:

Mainz still find themselves in the lead, despite having a Amiri sent off in the 1st half against Augsburg. Burkhardt and Sieb had given Mainz the visitors a 2-0 lead after only 15 minutes of the match having been played. Augsburg equalised in the 25th minute through Keven Schlotterbeck and then 10 minutes later, in the 35th minute, Mainz's Amiri was sent-off. Mainz would hold on to their 2-1 lead until half-time. 

However, in the 2nd half, Burkhardt would score his 2nd goal of the game and Mainz's 3rd goal to extend Mainz's lead over Augsburg in the 49th minute of the 2nd half. Augsburg would pull a goal back through Essende in the 57th minute, but Essende would then get himself sent-off in the 70th minute and consequently cancel out Augsburg's 1 man advantage. With 15 minutes left to play of normal time, the score is still Augsburg 2-3 Mainz.

I have to say that I am surprised that Augsburg loaned out their forwards Beljo(to Rapid Vienna) and Cardona(to Espanyol). Because I really do not rate Essende, he is 26 and he has never really been prolific in his career and he has mostly played in 2nd tier divisions/leagues during his career.

Beljo has a lot of potential, he's still very young, but he has proven he can score goals at a good level. He has already been capped twice by Croatia and he already looks a dangerous forward. While Cardona provides a dangerous attacking threat. Cardona has been excellent for Brest and St.Etienne over the past 5 years and he was highly rated when he started out his career at Monaco. I think that Augsburg really shouldn't have loaned out Beljo or Cardona this season, because quite frankly, Essende doesn't impress me at all. 

Augsburg 2-3 Mainz

Good ! Here's hope Augsburg end up, where they belong, in Liga 2 together with the some Hannover. of all these other investor clubs, like Hertha BSC, Hamburg, Lautern, and Hannover.

Edited September 20 by Rucksackfranzose

[Michael]

7 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Good ! Here's hope Augsburg end up, where they belong, in Liga 2 together with the some Hannover. of all these other investor clubs, like Hertha BSC, Hamburg, Lautern, and Hannover.

You're entitled to your opinion about them, but I quite like Augsburg. Augsburg had one of the best forwards in the league last season in Demirovic. But as he inevitably had to leave for a bigger club in Stuttgart, Thorup was mad to think that Essende would be an adequate replacement for the superb Bosnian forward. Essende who is 26, has never scored more than 9 league goals a season during his entire career and he has mostly played in the French 2nd Division and the French 3rd Division during his club career.

I just think that it's insane that Essende is first choice up-front for Augsburg, when there are other players like Beljo and Cardona who would almost certainly do a better job up-front for Augsburg. Cardona is now playing regularly on loan at Espanyol in the tough La Liga and Beljo is proving to be a key player on loan at Rapid Vienna.

[Stan]

What a game at Leverkusen. Wolfsburg ahead 3-2 just before half time!

[Tommy]

3 hours ago, Stan said:

What a game at Leverkusen. Wolfsburg ahead 3-2 just before half time!

And they won it with another 93rd minute winning goal. 

 

Stuttgart beat Dortmund 5-1.  

[Stan]

32 minutes ago, Tommy said:

And they won it with another 93rd minute winning goal. 

Heard that they've scored something like 40 or more goals since Alonso has been in charge in the 80th minute or after. 

[Viva la FCB+]

Fritz comments sum up my feelings so far of Kompany's short tenor. Olise has been settling in more and more and this was a top performance from him. He looks to be a real gem. 

Werder Bremen director of football Clemens Fritz on yesterday's game: "I felt like I was back in the days under Pep Guardiola. Bayern played with a lot of intensity and had incredible ball control. When Bayern are in top form, it's difficult to get anything against them. In the [recent] past, Bayern always gave you phases where you could gain possession of the ball and find your own structure. But yesterday there was such an intensity that even in the 88th minute, Kompany was still pushing his players from the sideline, and the players also wanted to keep going. This counter-pressing didn't give us any time to breathe. They got the ball back straight away"

[Dave]

6-1 9-2 and 5-0. Michael Olise has created the greatest Bayern team of all time.