Bundesliga Team Of The Week: Round 2

Mathew Burt runs the rule over the best in Germany from the weekend’s fixtures in Round 2 of an exciting Bundesliga.

Bayern Munich were once again held to a draw, this time by Borussia Dortmund. Werder and Schalke also finished all-square, but Hamburg won thanks to a last-minute winner.

Leverkusen beat Stuttgart at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, but Hoffenheim remain top of the table after a 1-0 win over Mönchengladbach.

Schober

Compper Naldo Subotic Jaissle

Ebert Blaszczykowski Borowski Özil

Wichniarek Helmes

Goalkeeper:

(1) Mathias Schober (Schalke)

If Schalke fans were worrying about the effect of the absence of Manuel Neuer, they needn’t bother as in Mathias Schober they have a more than decent back-up. He pulled off a number of top saves to deny Werder Bremen on Saturday and went a long way to helping the Königsblauen secure a point. He denied debutant Claudio Pizarro twice and pulled off a great save to deny Mesut Özil too.

Defenders:

(2) Marvin Compper (Hoffenheim)

Compper came back to haunt his former club on Saturday with a fine defensive performance to help Hoffenheim clinch their second win in a row, and secure their second clean sheet in succession. Gladbach forwards Colautti and Matmour were shut out and Marko Marin hardly given a sniff- he won 69% of all his tackles.

(3) Naldo (Werder Bremen)

The Brazilian has been called upon to take on even more defensive responsibility with the injury to Per Mertesacker and he certainly stepped up to the mark against Schalke with a solid display to thwart Kuranyi and Co. The visitors started to boss the game midway through the first half, but Naldo always seemed to get in where it mattered to deny them.

(4) Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund)

19 year old Neven Subotic, playing in only his second Bundesliga match, came up against the mighty Luca Toni and the youngster did remarkably well. He wasn’t overawed and kept last season’s top-scorer largely under wraps throughout the game. He was very fortunate not to concede a penalty in the second half, when the referee wrongly judged that Toni had dived in the area. Combined well with Mats Hummels and the Dortmund defence this season already looks a lot better than last year.

(5) Matthias Jaissle (Hoffenheim)

Two games, two wins, and two clean sheets is the perfect start for Hoffenheim. While Ibisevic is grabbing the headlines with his goals, the defence also deserves some credit. Against Mönchengladbach, 21 year old left back Matthias Jaissle was particularly impressive both in a defensive role and going forward down the flank. He was only in the team due to other injuries, but took his chance well and must surely be in line for more outings this season.

Midfielders:

(6) Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)

‘Kuba’ makes his second consecutive appearance in the Team of the Week this season after a great display against Bayern Munich. The Pole had a storming first half and opened the scoring after just 8 minutes with a superbly executed shot. He was a constant threat down the right hand side and caused Bayern all sorts of problems. He was quieter in the second period as Bayern came back, but nonetheless another top performance.

(7) Patrick Ebert (Hertha Berlin)

Ebert was impressive last week against Eintracht Frankfurt and his early season form continued on Saturday against Bielefeld as Hertha were held to a draw. He constant raiding down the right flank caused the Arminia defence a whole host of problems. He set up Marko Pantelic for the opening goal and was involved in 15 of Hertha’s 29 attempts on goal

(8) Tim Borowski (Bayern Munich)

Bayern’s second half performance with ten men against Dortmund was superb and they fully deserved their point. It was no coincidence that their fight back occurred after the introduction of midfielder Tim Borowski. The former Werder man scored the equaliser, but was also involved in 6 of Bayern’s 11 second half efforts on goal. He may well just have played himself into the starting XI for the next game.

(9) Mesut Özil (Werder Bremen)

The scene was set for Mesut Özil to take centre stage against his old club and take revenge and he certainly showed what they could be missing out on. With Diego still absent on Olympic duty, Özil was tasked with filling in and he did so admirably. The youngster set up the opener for Torsten Frings and was unlucky not to get himself on the score sheet.

Forwards:

(10) Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)

If Bielefeld are going to stay up this season, then the goals of Artur Wichniarek are going to be vital in their cause. Two goals against Werder last week were a good start and he was once again the man for the ‘Arminen’ against Hertha as he hit the equaliser shortly after Pantelic had given the home side the lead. He showed a cool head to round Drobny before scoring against his former club.

(11) Patrick Helmes (Bayer Leverkusen)

Helmes was disappointed not to get on the field for Germany’s midweek win over Belgium, but he made up for it by scoring in his second successive Bundesliga match. If this keeps up his chance for the national team will surely be just a matter of time. He set Bayer on the road to victory over Stuttgart with a well taken goal in the first half.

Honourable mentions:

As always there are a number of players, who deserve a special mention despite having not made it into the final XI. Goalkeeping trio Robert Enke (Hannover), Christofer Heimeroth (Mönchengladbach) and Benedikt Fernandez (Leverkusen) all had fine games and produced some fine saves.

Hoffenheim sit top of the table and got two players into this week’s Team of the Week, but honourable mentions must also go to midfielders Tobias Weis, Carlos Eduardo and striker Vedad Ibisevic, who grabbed his third goal of the season.

Joris Mathijsen was the match winner for Hamburg against Karlsruhe, while Brazilian midfielder Renato Augusto was again impressive for Bayer Leverkusen. Right back Gonzalo Castro also deserves a mention for his all-round display.

Torsten Frings was at his imperious best in the big match against Schalke and relished the midfield battle. Marko Pantelic also got his scoring account opened against Bielefeld with a well taken goal.

Mathew Burt