Three things we learnt from the Bundesliga afternoon kick-offs | OneFootball

In a warm-up for the BIG Saturday evening kick-off between Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, we had a handful of afternoon kick-offs to get through. These included Borussia Dortmund losing to relegation-fighting Bochum 2-0, Borussia Mönchengladbach beating Union Berlin 2-1 to move a step closer to European qualification, Stuttgart losing 2-1 to Wolfsburg and Freiburg leaving it late to beat St.Pauli 1-0.

Here are three things we learnt:

Things continue to get worse for Borussia Dortmund:

When you think you are at a low point for Dortmund, things just get worse. Today showed that the manager can no longer be blamed for their problems, the players are just incompetent. Both of the goals conceded today were from mistakes, the first from Emre Can and the second following an under-hit Niklas Süle backpass to Gregor Kobel.

After that Dortmund were unable to create any meaningful chances to even try and get back into the game, with relegation-fighting Bochum having more big chances (7) than them (4), despite the hosts sitting back and defending for much of the second half, Timo Horn made only two saves. Tells you everything. Julian Brandt was particularly uninspiring (which is a common theme this season) with his free-kicks hitting the wall more times than hammers tearing down the Berlin Wall, while for most of this season, his corners have failed to beat the first man.

If Dortmund fails to qualify for Europe this season, which is looking increasingly likely, there is a valid argument to be made that they just sell the majority of their side and rebuild the squad.

Credit to Bochum who put in a strong performance to move themselves into 17th and are four points off of safety. Dieter Hecking continues to be their saviour.

Borussia Mönchengladbach are dark horses for the Champions League places:

A good win for Gladbach thanks to goals from Lukas Ullrich (his first for the club) and Tim Kleindienst, despite a penalty from Union in the second half, die Fohlen were able to fend off the hosts. The win takes them up to seventh in the table and are now only three points off of RB Leipzig in fourth.

With the clubs above them constantly tripping up, a favourable set of fixtures on the horizon and Gladbach building up form, there is a real possibility that they could set themselves up for a late push into the Champions League this season.

Kleindienst is one of the main protagonists in this big turnaround compared to last season. The 29-year-old has 14 goals and five assists in 21 games, which also makes him the top-scoring German in the league. But it is not just the big man up top, in the second of the season Kevin Stöger looks back to his best after a mini-training camp in the Austrian Alps during the winter break, Nathan Ngoumou despite being linked with a move away has also improved his performances, Ullrich continues to grow into a solid left-back who has German national team potential and the defence as a whole looks a lot better and more solid compared to earlier in the season.

All this sets Gladbach up as a potential dark horse (no pun intended) for the Champions League.

Nick Woltemade could replace Kai Havertz in the Germany squad:

Yes, Stuttgart lost, but Woltemade scored a great goal which showcased his technical ability and his improvement under Sebastian Hoeneß this season. At Werder Bremen last season the striker struggled, only scoring twice with both goals coming towards to the end of the campaign. Now at Stuttgart, he looks like a completely different player with six goals and one assist in 19 appearances this season.

The 23-year-old is a unicorn. His height and his technical ability should not go together, instead, he should be a player who just lobs the ball to knock it down and hold up play. Your eyes fool you when you watch him play, as with his goal today, you think he shouldn’t be able to do the things he does do but when he does do them he doesn’t look like a Polar Bear in Arlington, Texas.

With Kai Havertz missing the rest of the season through injury, it opens up a spot in Germany’s attack for the March international break and he would offer similar qualities to the Arsenal forward.

(Plus, who doesn’t want to see Woltemade and Kleindienst up front flanked by Wirtz and Musiala)

GGFN | Jack Meenan