That time again

Hello and welcome to another edition of 'Bulletin Bundesliga' - your host this week is Stuart Robinson.

Good afternoon. Buoyed by recent positive comments regarding this presentation from the well-renowned Mr. Khan, I shall be expanding my coverage of the German top division this week in order to commemorate a record-breaking matchday in Germany's top flight.

An unsurpassed 34 goals were scored over the 9 matches, cementing the Bundesliga's growing reputation as the division of dire defences. These proved to be even more impressive as it came about during the same weekend that saw 15 goals over 10 matches played in England, including 3 goalless draws, and was the first time that 'the Big Four' had all failed to score on one weekend since February 1993.

The biggest shock of matchday 14 came at the Schüco Arena, where Arminia Bielefeld outplayed league leaders Leverkusen to claim a 2-1 victory. On a pitch where orange markings aided spectators' vision in the snowy conditions, the deadlock wasn't broken until early in the second half, when 'King Artur' Wichniarek was put through on goal to grab his ninth goal of the season with a pin-point finish into the far bottom corner that German number 1 Rene Adler could not reach, despite his having successfully narrowed the angle.

Then, with just over 20 minutes to play, a howler to which the keeper readily owned up after the game compounded a miserable afternoon for Bayer when an anxious Adler could only palm a harmless cross into the path of Daniel Halfar, who notched his first goal of the campaign via a deflection. The home side then survived an 'Anschlusstreffer' (closing up goal - score that brings a team to within 1) from the in-form Patrick Helmes, beneficiary of that mix-up in Berlin in midweek, to secure the 3 points. The visitors, for whom a late dismissal and consequent kick-out at a nearby cone by midfielder Sascha Dum did little to assist their quest to gain a dramatic point, drop to second in the table.

Hoffenheim leap-frogged Leverkusen into top-spot with a 3-1 win in Köln. In a feisty encounter in front of 50,000 at the Rhein Energie Stadion which saw several bookings the deadly Vedad Ibisevic, who also occupies top place in the golden boot stakes, saw his tally for the season swell to 16 in just 14 games after Nemanja Vucicevic was guilty of one of the misses of the season so far. (I say so far because Claudio Pizarro seems to have shrugged off his early-season form and reverted back to his true self, so there is always a chance of it being bettered at some point.)

As the ball cannoned back off the post to the Köln striker after a decent attempt from strike partner and skipper Milivoje Novakovic all one could say is that it had come at him a little swiftly. In the same way perhaps that Heurelho Gomes might come for a corner. However, his captain could be seen holding his head in his hands and one had to wonder if this reaction was due to a feeling of nausea and dizziness at the sheer height that Vucicevic had managed to achieve in sending the ball over the crossbar from barely six yards out.

That was at 0-0. After that, the imposing Demba Ba celebrated his ninth of the season while home stopper Faryd Mondragon staged an outrageous protest to a legitimate goal by running fifty yards to confront the linesman on the grounds that the player was clearly level and should therefore give the opposition the benefit of the doubt. Kevin McKenna was then sent off for Köln in the 52nd minute and Luiz Gustavo saw red for Hoffenheim 4 minutes later, before Ibisevic plundered a second half brace to render Petit's deflected free-kick conversion meaningless as Hoffenheim continued to defy their critics.

Bayern Munich walked their way to victory over crisis club Energie Cottbus at the Allianz Arena without breaking sweat, even taking into account that they again fell behind at home, this time to a long-range Ervin Skela set-piece that evaded everybody and flew past keeper Michael Rensing into the back of the net. Goals included a terrific Franck Ribery free-kick - the Frenchman has scored in each of six outings since returning from injury - and a cushioned volley-cum-yeboah from Luca Toni, who is very much back in business having resembled the Italian Peter Crouch (without the acrobatics) a matter of weeks ago. Headers from Martin Demichelis and Miroslav Klose completed the rout as Bayern ran out 4-1 winners, confirming their title ambitions by cemening third place in the standings. Defeat leaves Cottbus stranded at the foot of the table in desperate need of an overhaul when January comes around.

Hertha Berlin are ranked just one place below the Bavarians following their impressive 3-2 win away to Vfl Bochum. Goals from Raffael, Gojko Kacar and Brazilian midfielder Cicero, top scorer for the Berliners this season after his summer arrival from Fluminense, set the guests on their way to holding a three-goal advantage over lowly Bochum at the rewirpower Stadion before a second-half fightback reduced the arrears as Hertha were made to work for the win. Their Swiss coach Lucien Favre's relieved 'got out of jail' expression at the final whistle told the story.

Sunday's showdown brought together two teams with similar ambitions who have endured very different experiences thus far. HSV, under former spurs boss Martin Jol's stewardship, had started superbly but come unstuck recently, resulting in a string of disappointing setbacks. Werder Bremen, on the other hand, suffered an awful introduction to their campaign (their worst in over a decade) and have only begun to see a reversal in their fortunes over the past month or so.

However, at Hamburg's HSH Nordbank Arena on Sunday evening, Werder were reminded of their shortcomings, firstly by a scrappy Paolo Guerrero effort that highlighted the lack of awareness at the heart of the Werder defence, as the striker was first to pounce on a rebound in the 10th minute. Then, after a Diego free kick that should really have been kept out by Frank Rost in the HSV goal, a late rocket from Ivica Olic found the top corner of Tim Wiese's goal and took the hosts clear of the boys from Bremen and into 5th place and leave Werder trailing in 9th.

Week 14 also marked the second managerial casualty of the Bundesliga season, as a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Wolfsburg did for Stuttgart's Armin Veh, who was relieved of his post early on Sunday morning, leaving former German international and Liverpool defender Markus Babbel in temporary charge. As for the game itself, beleaguered Stuttgart actually took the lead through midfielder Martin Lanig, resulting in Felix Magath haranguing the officials to the point where he was sent to the stands to watch the second period play out. He missed a memorable fightback as his side came from behind with two goals from Grafite, who's tally is now into double figures, and two from Bosnian Edin Dzeko, who scored his first 'Doppelpack' (double) of the season.

Elsewhere, Schalke earned a comfortable 3-1 win at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach, a clinical brace from the less famous Altintop brother, Halil, and a dinked penalty from Jefferson Farfan proving ample in seeing off the away team, for whom Rob Friend (pronounced the German way) snatched what turned out to be only a consolation. Eintracht Frankfurt easily overcame Hannover at the Commerzbank Arena through two goals either side of half-time, delivering a 4-0 scoreline that did not do justice to the extent to which they controlled proceedings from start to finish. There was controversy, though, when an absurd penalty decision was given in favour of Hannover with the score at 2-0 only for the man in the middle to consult the linesman and promptly correct his mistake. Karlsruhe were narrowly beaten at home by Borussia Dortmund in the only Friday fixture after Mohammed Zidan nipped in front of the keeper and prodded home with 20 minutes gone, handing the points to the visitors and propelling Dortmund into the top six.

Here is a full set of the weekend's results. A table should, in theory follow, but then again, I should (in theory) have better things to do:

Köln 1-3 Hoffenheim
Bayern 4-1 Cottbus
Bielefeld 2-1 Leverkusen
Bochum 2-3 Hertha
Schalke 3-1 Gladbach
Wolfsburg 4-1 Stuttgart
Frankfurt 4-0 Hannover
Karlsruhe 0-1 Dortmund
Hamburg 2-1 Werder