After we had a look at the top trio in the first part of the first round analysis, we now focus on the next three teams in the table.
RB Leipzig
The team from the East of Germany is in 4th place at the end of the first half of the season and can therefore remain for the winter on a rank which would allow them to play Champions League next season. The most important guarantor for the good performances was the best defence of the Bundesliga, which has only allowed 17 goals in the 17 matches so far. And above all at home they have been a strong force this season and have not lost any of their own home games.
And Leipzig also has a really player in there offense, who they could always rely on in the first half. In the statistics of the best scorers Timo Werner with 11 goals is among the front runners. This first round, measured by his scoring record, was the best half-series in his career so far. The 22-year-old seems to be hungry and on fire, if he continues to play like this, he will have great chances of winning the title of the best scorer of the German Bundesliga.
Shortly before the winter break, Leipzig lost the important match against the champions from München, but they are trying to keep up with the lead.
That's why it was also crucial for the team to be able to claim the very important fourth place in the table, which they are now planning on defending until the very end of the Bundesliga season, in order to play in Europe's highest tournament next season .
Talking internationally, in the Europa League, on the other hand, things didn't go well for RB Leipzig this season. The team played in the same group as the namesakes from Salzburg, but was not able to assert themselves against the not really strong competitors and has already been eliminated. So they now can fully concentrate on the second half of the Bundesliga and do everything to qualify directly for the next Champions League season. Even this project will not be easy, since the competition in the Bundesliga is also very intense this year.
Vfl Wolfsburg
One of the big surprises in the first lap was the team from the Volkswagen city. In the last season they could only narrowly avert the threat of relegation at the very end of the season and the first games of this round were not really promising either.
However, the team got better and better from game to game and has now become much more harmonious and attuned with each other, which resulted in the fact that now at the end of the first round Wolfsburg could position themselves on a very impressive fifth place. Especially away Wolfsburg is very dominant and has already brought home 16 points from foreign stadiums. This makes them the third strongest away team behind Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.
In the last 6 games they only had to share the points once and could win the last 3 away games. A great final sprint into the deserved winter break.
Since Wolfsburg does not compete internationally this season, the team can fully concentrate on the Bundesliga, something which has become obvious when looking at the last matches and their powerful appearances and has led to some big wins.
But Wolfsburg has to work on their scoring, 22 goals are the worst value for all teams up to 7th place. If they want to finish the season on a place that is eligible for an international competition, the strikers have to put in much much of what they bought for. The trend points upwards, but let's see if Wolfsburg can continue their previous performance in the second half of the season.
Eintracht Frankfurt
Another winner of the previous season, the team from the heart of Germany was able to impress both nationally and internationally with powerful offensive football. Even though they lost to Bayern München on the last matchday before the winter break, they are still in a position to qualify directly for the Europa League.
Especially at the beginning of the season, Frankfurt played very effectively and was right at the top of the table. For a long time they were some unbeatable power at home, but at the end of the first half of the season they showed signs of sinking strength. The winter break comes now probably just at the right time to regenerate and prepare for an exhausting second half.
Two offensive players, Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller, who have already scored 12 and 9 goals respectively, are essential factors for Eintracht's offense. Especially Jovic is on fire this season and shares the top position in the scoring list with Alcacer from Dortmund.
And it seems that we can expect much more from him in the many games to come, and that he is eager to kick his team to many more victories.
In contrary to Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt is also competing internationally this season, and so far their appearances in the Europa League have all been successful. All 6 matches so far have been won, even the match at the Italian side of Lazio Rome. A very strong performance and a historic success for Eintracht.
In the next round they will face Shakhtar Donetsk and if Frankfurt sticks to their previous form in the Europa League, they might be able to go a long way this season.
However, due to the double burden it could still be very difficult for the team to keep up in the Bundesliga after the winter break. But if Sebastian Rode, who just came as a loan from Borussia Dortmund until the end of the season, can quickly integrate into the team and build on his earlier performances, maybe we can also experience another furious offensive fireworks display at the Eintracht games in spring.
This time the Bundesliga is exciting from the top to the bottom, so stay tuned time for the third part of my first round analysis.
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