[Bundesliga > September 20th - 22nd]

Re: Bundesliga > September 20th - 22nd Hamburg - Bremen Very explosive derby! Hamburg sacked coach Fink during the week and now Cardoso, coach of the second team, is in charge until a new coach is found. Hamburger SV is a drama right now, many people saying many stupid things, almost everything went wrong in the club for years. All people are only communicating via media and some rich guy talks in public about sacking the manager and spending millions into the club if he could bring in his own management team. So a win against Bremen is important to get silence into the club, especially if we keep in mind that the official goal during the summer was archieving a top 6 spot. Sun isn't shining brighter a few miles away at Bremen, after two wins they now lost three in a row and everyone noticed that it will be a very tough season and even the first two wins against Augsburg and Braunschweig weren't convincing at all. Hamburgs defender Diekmeier is out but Jansen is back after injury. New signing Lasogga could make his debut in starting XI but I also see Rudnevs getting another chance to prove his scoring skills. Bremen will miss important midfielder Junuzovic again and new signed striker di Santo is suspended so most likely Petersen will start as the sole striker. Actually I tend to Hamburg here as they already shown two great matches (4-0 vs Braunschweig and 3-3 at Schalke) and finished way better last season than Bremen and the squads didn't change that much (Hamburg lost Son, Bremen Arnautovic and De Bruyne). Furthermore the change of coach could be a positive factor for the hosts. But it is a big derby and motivation will be very high on both sides, so stakes should be low. missings taken from: http://combostars.com/missings.php

[Bundesliga II > 13th - 16th September]

Re: Bundesliga II > 13th - 16th September squad situation Fürth - Bochum Fürth still without striker Djurdijc (S/3/1, long term), with Mudrinski (S/3/1) another striker is out today. Bochum without Bulut(M/3/0) and Bastians(V/1/0) but this aren't new missings. Ingolstadt - Union Ingolstadt suspended last years topscorer and keyplayer Caiuby(S/6/0) for one game due to internal reasons. Furthermore midfielder Cohen(M/3/0) and forward Hofmann(S/2/0) remain sidelined due to injuries. Union only without defender Eggimann(V/3/0). Düsseldorf - Dresden Düsseldorf without Bolly(S/6/0) and Benshop(S/5/2) Dresden got a new coach after sacking Pacult, it is Olaf Janßen. Even if a pretty unknown name he got some experience as assitant coach already (for example 1860 Munich) and was the assitant coach of Azerbaijan national team for the last years. But he has actually no experience as a head coach, so kind of a risky move of Dresden. Dresden is still without playmaker Trojan(M/4/0) and d Kempe(M/3/1). Ingolstadt - Union Last round I was on Union to beat St.Pauli. St.Pauli was 2-0 in front after 5 minutes but Union outplayed St.Pauli totally afterwards and got a fully deserved 3-2 victory in the end. After some years in the middle of the table they are aiming at promotion this season and in the last matches they already have shown their potential. They don't have a really good striker but with dangerous and technically skilled midfielders they are able to compensate it. Before the season they didn't loss any important player but signed some experienced Bundesliga players like Eggimann(Hannover, Swiss international) or Köhler(Frankfurt) and midfielder Kreilach came from Rijeka who already netted three times. Ingolstadt have some money from Audi but they don't sponsor so much that they can get a team which is able to go for 1st Bundesliga. They signed playmaker Hajnal (former Dortmund, Stuttgart) and Cohen from Nürnberg but they don't have any other great player. Striker Caiuby is the heart of the offence, fast, technically skilled and dangerous but he got suspended for todays match. Cohen is out as well. Ingolstadt didn't convince in any game this season but the bookies still rate them quite high due to the money from Audi I guess. But things have changed, Union is now a promotion contender while Ingolstadt isn't more than a mediocre team. Considering the important missing of Caiuby for the host I do not see Ingolstadt winning today. Only the bad away record of Union is against the bet but Union got 5 points out of 3 away matches this season which shows that they aren't so much weaker away from home any more. Union Berlin +0 @ 2.0 (Pinnacle)

[Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September]

Re: Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September

EINTRACHT:Trapp - S. Jung, Zambrano, Anderson, Oczipka - Flum, Rode - Aigner, Barnetta, Inui - Kadlec In question are Meier und Rosenthal. Missings : Schwegler, Stendera just a quick heads up... Aigner is playing and also Meier and Rosenthal are traveling ...

No they didn't, don't know where you found that wrong information. I can recommend the information from http://combostars.com/missings.php they usually are updated daily. Hoffenheim - Gladbach Markus Gisdol, the coach of Hoffenheim has a horrible record, since he took over he was in charge of 11 Bundesliga matches and Hoffenheim conceded 28 goals in those games. This makes more than 2 goals per game, at the end of the season this would be more than 80 goals. f.e. in the last season none team conceded even 70. So defence is the major problem of Hoffenheim, the defenders aren't good enough for this league and also there is no team strategy noticeable if they lose possession. And today they face a team which scored 17 goals in the last 6 matches including opponents like Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen. Gladbach has a superb offence with new signings Kruse and Raffael who play perfectly together and cause problems in every defence and I honestly have no idea how Hoffenheim wanna stop them. Gladbach has so many technically skilled players but also so many dangerous players. Even the midfielders like Kramer or Arango are always able to score. Gladbach with full squad, Hoffenheim without the two offensive keyplayers. Topscorer Firmino (3 goals, 3 assists) is injured, playmaker Salihovic(topscorer last season and in charge of set pieces) is still suspended. They just don't have anybody to replace them, it will all be on the wingers Volland and Elyounoussi to create scoring opportunities. They have former Bastia player Modeste up front who has proven his skills already but he won't get passes from the centre as there isn't any player to take over the parts of Firmino and Salihovic, so if Gladbach is able to stop the wingers, they should be able to stop Hoffenheim's offence. Gladbach to win @ around 2.7 Gladbach handicap -1.5 @ around 5.2 an die Deutschen hier: es gibt eine ausführliche Videoanalyse mit Spielszenen der Stärken und Schwächen beider Teams zu diesem Spiel. Ich will keine verbotene Werbung machen und den Link daher nicht posten, aber man findet es bei youtube wenn man nach Analyse Hoffenheim Gladbach sucht.

[Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September]

Re: Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September Bremen - Frankfurt Bremen without important midfielder Junuzovic. New striker Di Santo who made a good impression in the last two matches could get his first chance as a member of the starting XI. Frankfurt has to deal with the missing of midfielder and captain Schwegler. New striker Kadlec already started last match against Dortmund and already scored on goal. Important midfielder Rode is fit again after missing the Dortmund clash. New signing Barnetta who came from Schalke could start in midfield especially because topscorer Meier is still out and Rosenthal got injured as well. Mainz - Schalke Mainz will be without important midfielder Zimling(4/1) and youngster Parker(1/0). Schalke still miss topscorer Huntelaar, so former Mainz forward Szalai will continue up front. Farfan, Boateng,Draxler and should be the offensive midfield line-up. Höger, Neustädter or Jones will be the sixers. In defence Fuchs and Santana are out as well as long-term injured Kolasinac and Papadoupulos but captain Höwedes is back from suspension, new signing Aogo will again on the right, Uchida should take the left part, Matip will join Höwedes as central back.

[Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September]

Re: Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September Bayern - Hannover Hannover still without keyplayer and playmaker Huzsti, topscorer Diouf got injured during the internationals and is definitly out as well. This will be a big blow for the offence even if Ya Konan is fit again and could start as well as Sobiech who also got injured last week but is fit again. Midfielder Hoffman didn't travel to Munich, he could be replaced by Schmiedebach. Funny situation in Munich actually, at the beginn of the season everyone said that Bayern have to many midfielders but now? Gustavo was sold to Wolfsburg, Can was sold to Leverkusen, Martinez is injured, Thiago Alcantara is injured as well as Götze. Even Schweinsteiger missed the internationals but is back in squad to start today. Bayern just got one point in last match against Freiburg but rested many players to focus on Super Cup against Chelsea. Mandzukic will start up front again, the most likely line-up: Neuer - Lahm, Boateng, Dante, Alaba - Schweinsteiger - Robben, Müller, Kroos, Ribery - Mandzukic Bayern trashed Hannover last season 5-0 and 6-1 and 2009 and 2010 they won all four matches with at least 3 goals diffence (including a 7-0), so Bayern really like to play against Hannover. But Hannover also got two wins at home in 2011 (3-1, 2-1). Hannover always play very offensively and unlike other teams they don't think of focus on defence even against top teams which you can see perfectly in the following list. The matches of Hannover against last year's top 4: Hannover - Schalke 2-2 Hannover - Dortmund 1-1 Bayern - Hannover 5-0 Hannover - Leverkusen 3-2 Schalke - Hannover 5-4 Dortmund - Hannover 3-1 Hannover - Bayern 1-6 Leverkusen - Hannover 3-1 Dortmund - Hannover 3-1 So betting on goals seems to be a good idea. Hannover scored in 7/8 matches against the top 4 but considering the many missings in Hannover's offence I doubt that they can score today. But the last Bayern matches have shown some problems in Bayern's defence as well.

[Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September]

Re: Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September Yep, but also new signings on both sides since the last match: Berlin: Playmaker Baumjohann is injured, this is a huge blow but Hertha signed the midfielders Cigerci from Gladbach and Skjelbred from Hamburg shortly before the transfer window was closed. But I expect Ronny to replace Baumjohann today. Ndjeng is also out, striker Lasogga was swopt with Skjelbred and plays for Hamburg now. Stuttgart: Stuttgart signed defender Haggui from Hannover after Tasci's departure to Spartak Moskow. Niedermeier, Didavi and Rojas are still out, striker Abdellaoue also didn't travel to Berlin.

[Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September]

Re: Bundesliga > 13th - 15th September We should keep in mind that Nürnberg has always problems making the game especially if they are the favorite! They lost at home to Fürth last season and lost last rount at home to Augsburg, when they were totally outplayed. Nürnberg is never on the same level like Gladbach. Braunschweig was bad against Hamburg, true, but they played strong against Bremen(0-1) and Dortmund (1-2). This doesn't mean I am on Nürnberg here but if Braunschweig gets points some day then Nürnberg at home would be the perfect opportunity.

[Bundesliga III > 7th & 8th September]

Re: Bundesliga III > 7th & 8th September Eintracht Norderstedt - Hamburger SV II Derby in Regionalliga North. Norderstedt is next to Hamburg and especially connected to Hamburger SV. For many years HSV trained in Norderstedt and most of the players lived in Norderstedt. Now the training area is located in Hamburg but the youth internat is still in Norderstedt and Hamburger SV II is still playing their home matches in Norderstedt. In the same stadium today's match will be take place. Norderstedt is newly promoted and has only the aim to stay in the league, Hamburg is going to play in the middle of the table or upper third. This match isn't so special for Hamburger SV but it is for sure for Norderstedt as Hamburger SV is the biggest club in the area and even if it is just the second team for Norderstedt's players it is a very big game. HSV has the ambition to get three points against the small club from the town's border and Norderstedt will be highly motivated to get the first win against HSV. HSV was kind of inpredictable so far but scored and conceded goals as well as Norderstedt who was a bit unlucky in their results but already faced strong opponents like Wolfsburg, Havelse and Hannover. I expect two offensive sides, many scoring chances in the game and at least 3 goals. Over 2.5 goals @ 1.7

[Bundesliga II > Mon 2nd September]

Re: Bundesliga II > Mon 2nd September Yep, early red card destroyed every game plan, Cottbus was now looking for three points as well, made my predictions and picks for under suck as well.

[Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep Kaiserslautern - Cottbus Kaiserslautern fired coach Foda after last week's defeat to Aalen (0-4). This was quite surprising as only Fürth got more points at that time. But it shows the ambition of Kaiserslautern and it seems that they need to promote of financial reasons as they have a very expensive squad right now. Manager Kuntz is still looking for a new coach and it looks like they will sign former Duisburg and Darmstadt coach Runjaic next week. So today an interim coach will be in charge (former assitant and fitness coach). Opponent Cottbus also aim at promotion but don't need it desparetely, they are more a team that wants to finish top 6. As written above a bunch of important players are sidelined today. On home side keyplayer and topscorer Idrissou is suspended. In my eyes he is the best striker in the league and he is something like a superior weapon. He can make a goal anytime and is actually too good for this league and he so often made the difference in favor of Kaiserslautern. But to compensate a missing like today K'lautern signed strikers Occean (17 goals two years ago for Fürth) and young Zoller(last year topscorer in 3rd league and already 3 goals for Kaiserslautern) and offensive midfielder Matmour. So the missing of Idrissou isn't that problematic but still it is for sure a fact you should consider and speaks against Kaiserslautern. Especially because first choice Idrissou replacement Bunjaku is out as well. So Zoller and Occean should be the attacking duo. Also out is Borysiuk but he should be replaceable. Cottbus will miss Sanogo who is for Cottbus as important as Idrissou for Kaiserslautern, maybe even more important. Cottbus signed Takyi (former St.Pauli) and Jendrisek (former Kaiserslautern and Freiburg) and especially Takyi brought more power into the midfield. Important defender Bitroff will be out as well. He will be a miss more for the offence than for the defence as he often turns into a winger when Cottbus keeps possession. Cottbus don't have the deepest squad today as several substitute are out today(Affane, Mrowca, Brinkmann, Farina). Jendrisek got injured on Thursday but is fit again and will play today. Takyi had some kind of a flu last week and was seperated from his teammates but it looks like he can play as well (isn't stated as a missing on Cottbus official preview). To sum up we have many missings on both sides or players who are doubtful or didn't train this week. How the departure of Kaiserslautern's coach effects the performance is a questionmark. Cottbus showed some great games so far but also some bad ones. They are just way better at home than away. The only won one of the last 17 away matches and have big problems to score away from home. Without topscorer Sanogo and Bitroff as well as a weaker Takyi (just assuming that his body cannot be at 100% yet) they will got big scoring problems today again. I expect Cottbus to play very cautious and focussed as they are aware of their away weakness and the myth Betzenberg (Kaiserslautern at home) especially in a monday night game. They will be happy with one point for sure. Kaiserslautern want to climb back on a promotion spot but I guess the interim coach wants to see a disciplined and focussed performance more than a goal fest. Considering these approaches of both teams and the offensive missings of Idrissou and Sanogo I think the best bet is going for less goals. Under 2.5 goals seems likely for me. Also Kaiserslautern win with a clean sheet can be interesting as I don't think that the normal home win odds represent value. Correct score 1-0 or 2-0 can also be played. But after a coach change and so many missings I always recommend to place only small stakes.

[Bundesliga > 31st Aug & 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga > 31st Aug & 1st Sep Stuttgart - Hoffenheim Derby in the South-West. Stuttgart sold captain and former international Serdar Tasci to Spartak Moskow but he was injured so wouldn't have played anyway. His central back teammate Niedermaier is injured as well. Both are out for weeks which also is an explanation for their bad start into the campaign (3 goals against in Mainz, 4 against Rijeka). Stuttgart has to replace important and fast midfield winger Traore (red card), Hoffenheim is without playmaker Salihovic after his stupid red card last week when he slapped his opponent in the face while celebrating his goal. Stuttgart changed the coach but after their elemination by Rijeka on Thursday it is doubtfull if there will be a decent coach effect. Hoffenheim played a very offensive style this season so far with the wingers Volland, Elyounoussi, Firmino and scorer Modeste in attack and I guess they are going for 3 points today, too. Stuttgart need to get three points today to get back on track and keep the supporters and media quiet. Therefore they actually have to play very offensively. Stuttgart is playing with a new attacking line-up today. Ibisevic remains the sole striker but with Leitner(20 years), Maxim(23) and Werner(17) it is totally different offensive midfield line-up. Actually very inexperienced with for example the 17 year old Werner who only played 14 minutes so far in Bundesliga. Like Neubs I prefer Hoffenheim under these circumstances. Also over seems likely

[Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep a few thoughts Köln - Aue I see it similar to Kojic, Aue is maybe the biggest surprise so far, they play very nice football. This isn't the defensive-minded Aue we know for years, with new coach Falko Götz the team want's to score and they do it. They are full of confidence and I expect them to play offensively today as well. Köln is struggling, they have problems breaking through the defences especially because most of their opponents are full of respect to this great team and only focus on defence against them. Today I don't see such a defensive opponent and this is why I expect some goals. Over is my choice here, I have small stakes on Aue as well as they are underrated by bookies. Dresden - Ingolstadt Both sides are in big trouble, Dresden fired his coach 2 weeks ago and manager Menze took over while looking for a new head coach. They lost very deservedly last week to St.Pauli and as predicted St.Pauli was outplayed yesterday. So St.Pauli isn't one of the best teams right now which shows that the coach change effect didn't improve Dresden's performance at all. But at home Dresden will be way more confident today. On the other side Ingolstadt got a very crucial win last week which also saved coach Oral's head. But Ingolstadt still looks very shaky at the moment and is not all the promotion contender as some medias considered them. Actually this encounter smells of goals. Karlsruhe - Aalen Aalen is funny at the moment, they were trashed at Cottbus 1-5 and then came back one week later and trashed Kaiserslautern 4-0. They lost at home 0-2 to Fürth but won at high-flying Aue with a clean sheet. Kind of unpredictable at the moment. I like the under here, Karlsruhe with a great defence and Aalen actually often as well. +0.5 is also nice here as I see the draw very likely and don't think Karlsruhe should be a -0.5 favorite here

[Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep squad situation Köln - Aue There are some rumors that former German international Patrick Helmes will join Köln but nothing is official yet and he won't be able to help Köln today. There aren't new missings on home side, Aue has to deal without important defender Schlitte. Possible replacement Paulus is also injured as well as midfielder Fabian Müller Dresden - Ingolstadt Trojan still misses keyplayer and playmaker Trojan, Ingolstadt is without new signing and already keyplayer Cohen. Karlsruhe - Aalen No missing on either side.

[Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep Lol, 4 minutes played, St.Pauli 0-2 .... unbelievable. I like your Paderborn pick Kojic!

[Bundesliga > 31st Aug & 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga > 31st Aug & 1st Sep Squad situation Hannover - Mainz: Hanover without keyplayer and playmaker Huszti. Topscorer and No#1 striker Diouf is still questionable. I assume he will play but we will have to await the official line-ups. Nürnberg - Augsburg Nürnberg signed defensive midfielder Hasebe from Wolfsburg, Augsburg striker Milik from Leverkusen. Both won't be a part in today's squads. Augsburg still miss striker Bobadilla, Nürnbergs Nilsson who got injured last week is fit again while midfielder Gebhart will be sidelined again. Gladbach - Bremen Still no missing for the hosts, Bremen's captain Fritz is back from injury, Schmitz and Bargfrede remain sidelined as long term injuries. Hamburg - Braunschweig Hamburg transfered former international Aogo to Schalke. Their are rumors that they will sign striker Lassoga from Hertha and swop midfielder Skjelbred but nothing is official yet. Marcell Jansen is injured. On Braunschweig's side is defender Correia still out. Last year's topscorer Kumbela who missed the first matches due to an injury is back in the squad again and maybe will be in the starting line-up. Last week he was already substituted 20 minutes before the end. Wolfsburg - Hertha Berlin Wolfsburg star Gustavo has to sit out due to his sent-off against Mainz, possible replacement Hasebe is transfered to Nürnberg so Polak should be the second sixer next to Koo. Striker Dost is injured but he doesn't play a role in Hecking's plan anyway. Berlin is still without van den Bergh and Ndjeng. Schalke - Leverkusen Schalke signed Boateng and he will already play today. Pukki will be transfered to Celtic while Aogo is on loan from Hamburg. Szalai is fit while Huntelaar is out. Farfan seems to be fit as well. Höwedes and Fuchs are suspended.

[Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga II > 30th Aug - 1st Sep Union Berlin vs. FC St.Pauli After a surprising defeat at the beginning Bochum is getting better and better. After some years in the middle of the table they are aiming at promotion this season and in the last matches they already have shown their potential. They don't have a really good striker but with dangerous and technically skilled midfielders they are able to compensate it. Before the season they didn't loss any important player but signed some experienced Bundesliga players like Eggimann(Hannover, Swiss international) or Köhler(Frankfurt) and midfielder Kreilach came from Rijeka who already netted three times. On the other side we have St.Pauli who is also looking for promotion but officially stated to go just for Top 6. Actually they had a big fluctuation in their squad in the last 2 years and especially their offense and offensive midfield change almost completely. With Nöthe(Fürth) and Verhoek(Frankfurt) they signed two great strikers who already have proven their scoring abilities in this league. In midfield players like Rzatkowski(Bochum), Buchtmann(Köln), Thy(Bremen) or last monday's hero Meier (1860 Munich) were transfered to St.Pauli, in defence experienced Nehrig(Fürth) and young talent Halstenberg (BVB). I think that St.Pauli made a very good job on the transfer market with these players and yet it didn't really work out offensively. They have - if you just look at the names Nöthe and Verhoek - one of the best attacking line up in the league but they often don't have the connection to the midfielders. All midfielders are young (except dm Boll) and inexperienced, none of them played a part in a top team yet. I guess St.Pauli will play a great part in 1-2 years but at the moment it looks like they aren't able to gain superiority in midfield in matches against teams on the same level. St.Pauli got decent results already but they didn't score a single goal against the newly promoted sides Karlsruhe (0-0) and Bielefeld (0-1) and also had many problems against Dresden to score even if the win was highly deserved. Today St.Pauli is facing such a strong midfield with Kreilach, Dausch, Köhler, Mattuschka, Parensen. Union is well known for their home strength and I see them winning today as well. With the draw covered I recommend: Union Berlin -0.25 +++ 1.99 +++ Pinnacle

[Bundesliga > 31st Aug & 1st Sep]

Re: Bundesliga > 31st Aug & 1st Sep Regarding Schalke: They announced today that they will buy Kevin Prince Boateng and he is already in Gelsenkirchen. He will cost around 12 Mio Euros and maybe he will already be in the squad tomorrow. Furthermore former German international Dennis Aogo, regular player at Hamburg, was transfered to Schalke earlier this week as well while striker Teemu Pukki will be transfered to Celtic FC.