The Lowdown

Only 1 place to start and it's with the entertaining Werder Bremen, this time up against Borussia Dortmund. After nearly 87 mins of an absolutely appauling display from the home side receiving everything it deserved from a lively dortmund outfit, werder were trailing by 2 goals to 1, having only been brought back into the game following a triple substitution from coach Schaaf (or sheep to you and me). That was before a stunning Claudio Pizarro brace (ok a goal which doesn't do justice to the phrase 'tap-in' and a piece of neat footwork at the feet of the keeper 4 yards out) - the peruvian having been previously anonymous throughout - dragged werder to what seemed like victory from what was the claws of defeat to leave them 3-2 up in injury time. But before the goal of the month winner had finished celebrating Dortmund had gone down the other end and Mohammed Zidan, discarded by not only Hamburg and, at times this season, his current employers, but by Bremen as well earlier in his career, took advantage of a Tim Wiese slip to ram home into an unguarded net with the last kick of the game. Unbelievable. Werder are crazy-simple as that.
Hamburg went back to the top after a hard-fought home draw with rivals Schalke where the referee was berated for a full 10 minutes at the final whistle by both sets of players, most of whom refused to shake the official's hand. However, new boys Hoffenheim are hot on their heels in second place after a convincing comeback away to Hannover, a 5-2 scoreline not telling the full story, merely of the attacking prowess of the visitors, for whom Ibisevic is currently the league's top scorer with 9 goals in 8 matches. Bayern scraped a 1-0 win with a close-range Miroslav Klose finish with 3 minutes to play proving enough to overcome the extremely unfortunate Karlsruhe and go back up into 11th place, 1 spot behind Werder, as the Bundesliga maintains a distinctly unfamiliar feel as we approach the mid-way point in this first half of the season.
Oh, and in other hilarious news, Hertha Berlin newcomer (or neuzugang in German) Andriy Voronin sported a face mask during his side's win over Stuttgart after falling from the steps leading down from his flight back from international duty in midweek. He looked brilliant, as you might expect.
Well, i guess that's it. Expect more updates in due course, this league's just hotting up. The defences are awful but it just makes for great watching. I aint seen a nil-niler in weeks, and there were 3 in the prem at the weekend.