Three things we learnt from the Bundesliga Matchday 18 Konferenz – Dortmund leave it late, Hamburg fail to score and Köln finally win

The start of the Bundesliga rückrunde, or second half of the season, opened with Eintracht Frankfurt drawing 3-3 with Werder Bremen. 

The Bundesliga Saturday games saw the most high-profile game of the afternoon being Hoffenheim vs Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund hosted St.Pauli, Hamburg played Borussia Mönchengladbach, Köln faced Mainz, and Heidenheim travelled to Wolfsburg.

Borussia Dortmund ride their luck:

It was looking like Groundhog Day for Dortmund; like the first game of the season, they had seemingly thrown away a comfortable lead to St.Pauli. Goals from Julian Brandt and Karim Adeyemi gave them a 2-0 lead over the visitors; however, James Sands and Ricky-Jade Jones would bring St.Pauli back into the game, and it looked as if Dortmund were to drop points again after being in a leading position.

Jade Jones would then turn from hero to villain when he would foul Maximilian Beier in the box to give Dortmund a late penalty, which Emre Can would dispatch to make it 3-2. 

Again, this was another performance that Dortmund made too difficult for themselves. When 2-0 up they had plenty of opportunities to kill the game off, but they failed to do so and needed what was a lucky decision to go their way. 

The Niko Kovac style of play continues to have its limitations, and today that was shown yet again. 

Hamburg somehow fails to score:

Merlin Polzin’s side has shown that they have the potential to survive in the Bundesliga, and that was on display again today.

Against Borussia Mönchengladbach, they were somehow were unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Via FotMob, HSV had 25 shots and 12 on target, compared to Gladbach’s six and zero on target. Considering that Hamburg’s front line consisted of Damion Downs, Jean-Luc Dompé and Ransford Königsdorffer, the lack of a senior striker was obvious and contributed to the fact that they failed to put the ball in the back of the net. 

While looking at the locations of their shots and the amount of xG they produced, not many were able to challenge Mortiz Nicolas. 

1.FC Köln finally end their Bundesliga winless run:

The last game that Köln won in the Bundesliga was at the beginning of November when they beat Hamburg 4-1 at the Rhein Energie Stadion. Since then, they have gone on an eight-game winless run, and it even saw fans voice disapproval of head coach Lukas Kwasniok. 

Against Bundesliga strugglers Mainz, however, Effzeh were able to end their run thanks to a brace from second-half substitute Ragner Ache. 

Defence is still a slight problem area for Köln, but Manchester City loanee Jahmai Simpson-Pusey put in a solid display in the middle of their back three. Winning 40% of his ground duels and registering six clearances and three interceptions. 

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga:

Hoffenheim win their sixth game in a row at home after they beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 to move into the Bundesliga top four. While Wolfsburg and Heidenheim played out a 1-1 draw in the Autostadt.

GGFN | Jack Meenan