Photocredit: dfl.de
After 8 games, just 5 points separate 11th place Hoffenheim from 1st place Borrusia Monchengladbach. Bayern Munich have dropped points in 3 of their last 5. Dortmund had 3 successive draws leading up to their narrow victory over Monchengladbach over the weekend and have even lost to Union Berlin. 15th place Koln denied Schalke from going top of the table before the international break. RB Leipzig have won just 1 of 5. Only Wolfsburg hasn't lost at least once but even they have drawn half their games.
This years Bundesliga might be one of the most interesting league seasons I have seen in football through this many games in a long time. The fact that so few points separate the entire top 11 teams makes so many more games worth watching than ever before. It's a breath of fresh air to watch a league where so many different teams actually have a shout at being top of the table. What really makes it so great this season is that this is a league that so often has failed to grab my imagination because Bayern Munich just seem to always win with the odd year where someone else like Dortmund can do it. In 2018 Bayern won the league by a staggering 21 points. In 2017? 15 points. But watching Bayern Munich lose to relegation threatened Augsburg is exactly the kind of refreshing result this league desperately needs to get back to being what was once considered to be the best league. Far less people argue these days that Premier League or La Liga are that now. But there was once a time it was the Bundesliga. For a league to be taken seriously, teams in the relegation zone have to be capable of pulling off a shocker. Look at how Norwich beat Manchester City earlier this season, or how 15th placed Mallorca just beat Real Madrid. One of the best things about the Premier League in particular that makes it the most interesting league in a typical year is how the teams battling relegation can't be overlooked by a top side or they will possibly suffer for it.
One of the things that is making the Bundesliga better is that it hasn't been happening quite as often lately that every good player, especially if they are German, just leaves their team and goes to Bayern. One of the things that made this league pathetic was the fact that everyone was on board that when a player was good enough, you had to sell the player to Bayern Munich. Manuel Neuer for example should have been sold outside the Bundesliga. You should hate Bayern if you come up through a club like Schalke 04. But Neuer goes to Bayern without anyone thinking this is a problem. Schalke, like Dortmund are a club that should be competing with Bayern to win, not surrendering their top players to them. Same thing for Goretzka. If they weren't so stacked in his position already, Leroy Sane likely would have gone to Bayern rather than City. But imagine how much more exciting that league would be if Schalke were able to hold on to players like Ozil, Neuer, Sane, Goretzka, etc.? At the very least, they should be selling them outside the league, not making the juggernaut that is Bayern harder to beat. Dortmund have allowed this same stuff to happen letting players like Lewendowski and Gotze go to Bayern. I'll give an exception on Mats Hummels only because he did come up through Bayern's academy before going to Dortmund in the first place. It was also nice to see RB Leipzig beat Bayern to Julian Nagelsmann, though I fear he may still end up there eventually.
It would be very nice to watch someone new finally win this league and the competitive nature at the top gives me optimism this league will continue to be worth watching as the season continues.