Bundesliga Team Of The Week: Round 5

The weekend witnessed some fantastic football with some absolutely outstanding individual and team performances.  Werder Bremen humiliated Bayern Munich 5-2 at the Allianz Arena, while Bayer Leverkusen hit five past a helpless Hannover on Friday.

Schalke gained a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt to keep up their fine start and move top of the league thanks to Hamburg’s 3-0 loss to Wolfsburg.  Hoffenheim returned to their early season form with a 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund while Stuttgart triumphed in the Baden-Württemberg derby with a 3-1 win over Karlsruher.

Goalkeeper

(1) Dennis Eilhoff (Arminia Bielefeld)

Bielefeld kept a clean sheet for the first time this season against Köln and one of the major reasons for that was keeper Eilhoff.  He was on top form throughout the 90 minutes and denied Novakovic in the second half with a fine parry.

Defenders

(2)  Michael Kadlec (Bayer Leverkusen)

The Czech defender signed from Sparta Prague made his first start of the season against Hannover and was highly impressive.  The young left back kept things tight at the back and ventured forward well to join in with a potent Werkself attack giving Bayer plenty of width alongside fellow full back Gonzalo Castro.

(3)  Naldo (Werder Bremen)

The giant Brazilian enjoyed himself against Bayern after Werder’s inconsistent start to the season.  The back line has come under some criticism in the early part of the season, but Naldo hit back with a strong defensive performance which saw him shut out both Luca Toni and Lukas Podolski.  He capped a fine display with Werder’s second goal of the game.

(4)  Alexander Madlung (Wolfsburg)

Defender Madlung kept his place in Felix Magath’s defence after an impressive showing in the midweek Uefa Cup game and was once again one of Wolfsburg’s top players.  He helped keep thins tight at the back against a dangerous Hamburg side and ventured forward well, scoring the second of the game in a 3-0 win.

Midfielders

(5)  Renato Augusto (Bayer Leverkusen)

Leverkusen put on a magnificent display on Friday to beat Hannover 5-0 at the Bay-Arena and Brazilian midfielder Renato Augusto was one of the main architects behind their dominance.  While the whole team played fantastically well, it is worth picking out Renato as the key midfielder in their sublime performance.  He seemed to have it all- dream passes, tantalising crosses and great shooting.  No wonder he is being dubbed the ‘new Kaka’.

(6)  Mesut Özil (Werder Bremen)

Werder celebrated a marvellous 5-2 win over rivals Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena and young midfielder Mesut Özil was arguably the Man of the Match for Thomas Schaaf’s side.  The 19 year old scored a tremendous third goal for the ‘Green and Whites’ and peppered a fine game with some great passing, vision and shooting.

(7)  Diego (Werder Bremen)

The general rule is that when Diego plays well, Werder play well and that was in evidence on Saturday against Bayern.  While the whole team played well and Mesut Özil stole the show a little, Diego was on top form pulling the strings that allowed Werder to score five.

(8)  Sejad Salihovic (Hoffenheim)

The Bosnian midfielder put in a fine display against Dortmund as Hoffenheim returned to the form they showed in their opening two games and climb to second in the table.  He curled in a superb direct free kick in the first half to help Ralf Rangnick’s side on their way.

Forwards

(9)  Markus Rosenberg (Werder Bremen)

Although the Bayern defence must take some of the blame for their 5-2 loss to Werder, Swedish striker Markus Rosenberg did what all good forwards do, and was on hand to profit when it counted.  His cool finish opened the scoring and he then added another in the second half following moment of madness from Michael Rensing.  He now has four goals in five games.

(10)  Vedad Ibisevic (Hoffenheim)

With five games gone this season the Bundesliga leading scorer is not Luca Toni, Mario Gomez or Kevin Kuranyi, but Vedad Ibisevic of newly promoted Hoffenheim with six goals in five games (joint with Patrick Helmes).  The Bosnian grabbed a double against Dortmund which isn’t bad from a player who started the campaign at the third choice striker at the club.

(11)  Patrick Helmes (Bayer Leverkusen)

New Leverkusen striker Patrick Helmes has a very bright future ahead of him.  He was unlucky to be omitted from the final German squad for Euro 2008, but his early season form puts him ahead of the likes of Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez.  He helped himself to a hat trick against Hannover on Friday and terrorised their defence all night with his pace.  He even set up the Werkself’s opener for team mate Simon Rolfes.

Formation: 3-4-3

Eilhoff

Kadlec   Naldo   Madlung

Renato   Özil   Diego   Salihovic

Rosenberg   Ibisevic   Helmes

Honourable mentions:

As always there are a number of players, who deserve a special mention despite having not made it into the final XI.

I could be forgiven for not just picking the entire Team of the Week from Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen; such was the quality on show from those two sides this weekend.  As it is they have to be content with seven of the eleven places on show.  Suffice to say that the rest of those players deserve an honourable mention.

Artur Wichniarek continued his good early season form for Bielefeld against Köln, while Rafinha and Jefferson Farfan were solid performers for Schalke as they went top of the table.  Josip Simunic played well for Hertha Berlin, while the only Bayern player to come away with any real credit was substitute Tim Borowksi.

source: goal.com