A week after the action had already kicked off in some major leagues, such as the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga or the French Ligue 1, the time has now arrived for the German Bundesliga to kick off. A competition that has, across the last decade or so, lacked that excitement and suspense when it came to the battle for the title, with one or two exceptions, is shaping up to be another one-way street in the upcoming season.
The reigning champions set to repeat
FC Bayern München have consolidated themselves as Germany’s champions yet again, after the famous trophy had a little adventure on its first-ever move to Leverkusen. They didn’t suffer too many changes squad-wise, manager Vincent Kompany continues his process and it’s all pointing towards a stable, successful campaign. Domestically, at least.
The two biggest blows most definitely are the departure of Thomas Müller, who left München after more than 15 years of faithful service, and the horrific injury suffered by Jamal Musiala at the Club World Cup that will keep him sidelined for a good while.
Still, Bayern’s firepower and their flair, alongside the eye-catching, attacking football coached by their manager will have them covered in the long run, despite the fact that there are always hungry competitors trying to hunt them down.
A wind of change in Leverkusen
The closest competitor last year was the champion of two seasons ago, Bayer Leverkusen. They enjoyed a decent campaign once again, but couldn’t quite repeat the historical, undefeated season that earned them their first title.
Ahead of the new season, however, a lot has changed. The two main people behind the huge success, the two architects, have left the club. From the touchline, it was Xabi Alonso’s tactics, planning and execution that set the platform for his players to thrive on, and none thrived more than Florian Wirtz, the genius attacking midfielder that packed his bags this summer and left Germany to join the Premier League champions Liverpool.
Erik Ten Hag has been chosen to lead the re-build, and has been granted the funds necessary to shape the squad up to his liking. It was a busy summer at the Werkself front offices, but it will most certainly take time to get things rolling as smooth as everyone in and around the club would like.
While the foundations are looking nice and firm, with so many changes, making any predictions about Leverkusen’s performances this season is just too risky.
The rest of the hunting pack
A first and a second place finish in the last two seasons make Leverkusen the most logical contender for the No. 2 spot, but the competition will be fierce, as there are three more clubs aiming to take their spot and, why not, even try and upset Bayern München.
Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a decent summer tour in the US at the Club World Cup, only falling short to Real Madrid in the quarterfinal. Their manager Niko Kovač, who managed to turn things around spectacularly in the second half of last season to salvage Champions League football, has now consolidated his hold on proceedings in Dortmund and is crafting a teem that suits his style and vision.
A Bundesliga winner himself, both as a player and manager, Kovač will certainly know what it takes to triumph in Germany and the mental toll it can have on players and staff alike.
With the numerous heartbreaks Borussia have had in the recent past, they will certainly hope this can be their year. There hasn’t been to much movement in the market for them, besides the departure of Jamie Gittens and arrivals of Jobe Bellingham, Jude’s younger brother.
Another team that would like to get in the mix is Eintracht Frankfurt. They, similarly to Dortmund, rely more on the well-organized processes and the tactical clarity of Dino Töppmoller’s idea in their camp. Even though losing Hugo Ekitiké might be a blow to their hopes, history has taught us that for Eintracht, new decent strikers come as soon as the other ones go.
There is also the aspect of Champions League football that could take a toll on a team that does’t quite have the experience of competing at the very highest level twice a week.
Lurking from the shadows
RB Leipzig are another team that expects to be in the mix, despite losing Benjamin Šeško, their leading No.9 and looking set to lose Xavi Simons, the main creative outlet in the team. It’s a constant flow of elite talents in Leipzig, a new batch arriving even before the current leaves.
In that sense, the talent will most certainly be there, but details could make the difference between a ‘top’ and a ‘flop’ season for Die Roten Bullen.
VfB Stuttgart is also a team that is lining up from afar, with it’s sights set on the very top of the Bundesliga table yet again. A very well-organised, attacking outfit that lacked the lethal finishing touch last season, but excelled in many statistical categories, such as big chances created, where they slotted in second, just behind Bayern. The fact that they’ve created the second-most big chances and came in sixth when it came to goals scored, tells you all you need to know about their woes.
Their run in the DFB Pokal was impressive enough to earn them a European spot again, so the level will certainly be there again, the pace and the rhythm dictated by Angelo Stiller who was very high on Xabi Alonso’s wish list for Real Madrid this summer.
Conclusion
Given the time it takes to build good processes in football, and the time it can take for them to give fruit, it’s not realistic to expect Bayern München to lose the Bundesliga title.
One thing, however, is certain: we’ll have a lot of fun following the Bundesliga, the league that led all of Europe’s top five leagues with 3.13 goals per game.