What did the first round of the German Bundesliga reveal?

The Bundesliga is back after a break of more than two months. It was the only one of the leading European leagues to have a real winter break after the 2022 World Cup, which postponed its restart until the penultimate weekend in January. Therefore, what was true of individual clubs before the World Cup may no longer be true after the winter preparations. So what did the first weekend of play reveal? Here are a few key points.

Wolfsburg announce their assault on the European ranks

Wolfsburg have not started the season well at all. They took just two points from their first five games of the season. This set an atmosphere around the club in which it completely disappeared that until today, Niko Kovac’s team has been unbeaten since 18 September. That remains true after their clash this weekend with SC Freiburg.

It was expected to be an even match, as Christian Streich’s team spent Christmas in second place in the table and were only surpassed by the trio of FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig during the autumn.

Wolfsburg, however, joined that company with aplomb as they announced their assault on the European ranks with a six-goal debacle of their opponents. Even with that gain, the Wolves are only two points behind sixth-placed Dortmund.

Defeated Freiburg will also still have to fight for their seemingly guaranteed place in the European Cup.

After this loss, they have dropped to fourth place and with the form of not only Wolfsburg but also a resurgent Leverkusen, they could lose not only the prestige of the Champions League, where they would be heading at their current position, but also the Europa and Conference leagues. After all, it’s only after the next round that we’ll truly be halfway through the season.

Bremen and Cologne in their old ways

One of the biggest surprises of the autumn was the sovereignty with which Werder Bremen simply refused to take part in the battle for salvation. After a year in 2. Bundesliga, they looked like a team that had been revived in the lower competition, leaving behind the woes that had dogged them for years before their downfall.

But if Bremen’s performance against 1. FC Köln evoked anything for their fans, it was the performance that led to such an inevitable relegation two years ago.

The five goals scored in the first half were supplemented by two in the second half to complete an uncompromising 7-1 win.

Die Geißböcke, with the long-serving Tigges finally looking integrated into the team, looked back to their former form at the top of the attack, when the construction of their attack could rely on a midfield in the shape of Anthony Modeste.

Both teams have thus taken the first step back to their former form, although only one of them will want to continue that trend. Bremen will be hoping to snap a run of three games without a point already on Wednesday. They could certainly imagine an easier opponent for that, though, as Union Berlin come to their home Weserstadion.

Bochum escape relegation, Hertha escape top-flight status

From the start of the season, it seemed that Bochum, who failed to capitalise on their unexpectedly comfortable season last year in the transfer market, would not have the strength to repeat a similar escape and finish far from the relegation places. However, two wins at the end of the autumn showed that there is some will in the team led by Thomas Letsch this year after all.

Moreover, Saturday’s win at home against Hertha Berlin pushed them up to 14th place. Hertha, on the other hand, have dropped to 17th place, just five points above the imaginary bottom team Schalke.

Hertha will clearly be facing another season where they will be fighting off relegation until the last rounds. Perhaps the catharsis of one season in a lower league would help them in a similar way to Bremen?

Augsburg will probably not be able to avoid the relegation battle either. The latter narrowly failed to take points from Borussia Dortmund in a dramatic shootout (4: 3) and although there is a clear direction and a shift in play under young coach Enrico Maassen, the Bavarian club is 15th after 16 rounds.

Hoffenheim are not much better off. Along with the aforementioned four and Stuttgart, Pavel Kadeřábek’s team is probably the last club that we would include among the teams playing for salvation at the moment.

With a central midfield whose average age is just over 20 years old, Geiger, Stiller and Bischof made a promising start against Union Berlin, leading 0:1 at half-time.

However, Union showed that they are not playing for the top spot by chance and reversed the unfavourable result to a final 3: 1, thus condemning Hoffenheim to a mention in the chapter on teams fighting for salvation.

Adam Hložek as a false nine works

Already the winter preparation made it clear that Xabi Alonso is counting on Adam Hložek. Moreover, it seemed from the friendlies that the former Spartan striker simply works as the false nine in the 3-4-3 formation that the new Bayer Leverkusen coach relies on.

Unlike his national team teammate, Patrik Schick, who has been a stick in the mud at the top of Bayer’s attack under Alonso’s tutelage, Adam Hložek is involved in the game, able to get the most out of his speedy teammates on the wings and also get himself into chances.

While he only added one assist to his stats during his hour on the pitch in Sunday’s game against Borussia Mönchengladbach, he may have had even more credit for his team’s first goal. His shot was headed into the empty net by the onrushing Mitchel Bakker.

The Czech fan will also be happy to hear that Florian Wirtz, who returned to the pitch after months of recuperation with a cruciate ligament injury in his knee, came in for the last fifteen minutes at right wing. He didn’t replace Hložek in the midfield role and thus didn’t necessarily take away too many valuable minutes on the field in the spring.

The Bundesliga will take its winter break this week with an inserted round. So we’ll find out whether these trends are confirmed or refuted on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sources: Bundesliga