The afternoon kick-offs in the Bundesliga provided us with several interesting storylines as RB Leipzig came from behind to beat SC Freiburg 3-1, Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 against Augsburg, VfB Stuttgart held off a late Holstein Kiel comeback to win 2-1 and St Pauli and Wolfsburg played out a 0-0 draw.
So let’s look at some of the highlights of the afternoon:
Borussia Dortmund have no identity:
After their spectacular collapse against Real Madrid in mid week, Dortmund had the chance to redeem themselves against Augsburg. An early goal from Donyell Malen was a step in the right direction, but that was about it. Alexis Claude Maurice scored two goals and saw Augsburg take the three points.
Dortmund saw a lot of the ball but they struggle to consistently look like a threat when they go forward. Serhou Guirassy was their stand-out player and at the moment it looks as if he has downgraded when he switched from Stuttgart in the summer. The substitutions Nuri Sahin made at halftime were ineffective, once again, as Emre Can was forced to play as a centre-back. However, youth players Almugera Kabar and Cole Campbell both saw some game time.
Die Schwarzgelben look a long way off of the team that they should be and even a change of manager will not help them as they will probably end up hiring someone who once again has a connection to the club.
RB Leipzig will be fine without Xavi Simons:
Leipzig conceded their third goal of the season against Freiburg, which means they still hold the best defence in the league, however, it has been their attack that has not looked free-flowing in these first eight games of the season.
The injury in midweek to Xavi Simons did not look good for Leipzig but they look like they should be okay. Loïs Openda is their stand-out attacker, while Benjamin Seško, who probably has the highest ceiling as a striker in the league, needs to step up and show his potential in the absence of Simons. If not, a potential revival of André Silva could be on the cards as the Portuguese provided the assists for Openda’s goal.
Leipzig clearly has the defensive capabilities to win the league, their attack just needs to catch up.
VfB Stuttgart have a (good) striker problem:
In the summer, three strikers arrived at the MHP Arena: Deniz Undav returned to the club permanently, Ermedin Demirovic moved from Augsburg and El Bilal Touré arrived on loan from Atalanta.
Both Undav and Demirovic hit the ground running this season, while it has taken Touré several games to get up and running but after his midweek goal against Juventus as well as his goal and assist today, the 23-year-old may have given Sebastian Hoeneß a selection headache. All three bring their own qualities to the side but the question is, does leaving one out affect the team elsewhere?
Hoeneß was in the same situation last season, an injury to Serhou Guirassy allowed Undav into the starting 11 and the striker had an immediate impact which forced Hoeneß to play the pair together and it worked a treat as they fired Stuttgart to a second-place finish.
Can a trio of Undav-Touré-Demirovic have the same impact?
GGFN | Jack Meenan
