It is the return of another weekend of football in Germany’s top division after the international break, of which Germany managed to pip Poland to the top spot in Group D. Game week nine sees record breakers, Bayern Munich, face an away trip to the north at Werder Bremen, while bottom side, Stuttgart, face an important home tie against Bundesliga debutants Ingolstadt.
Bundesliga This Week: Yunus Malli, Marcel Heller and Anthony Modeste
Mainz’s Malli’s magnificent form could concern Tuchel on his return to the 05s
Game week nine kicks off with Mainz against Dortmund at the Coface Arena in what is Dortmund’s manager, Thomas Tuchel’s, first return back to his former employers since stepping down in 2014. Young Turkish striker, Yunus Malli, will definitely be on the mind of the Dortmund boss after impressing in his first full Bundesliga season. The 23-year-old came up from the second team to replace the departing Shinji Okazaki, who joined Leicester City in the English Premier League in the summer. Malli has netted six times in as many games, including an impressive hat-trick against struggling Hoffenheim in mid-September; the striker is going to be hard to contain. Dortmund have failed to win in their last three, losing to Bayern last time out and drawing with Hoffenheim and Darmstadt. This could be an ideal game for a striker hungry to continue his fine run of scoring form against a team who conceded five at Bayern and have been out of sorts recently after an impressive start to the campaign.
Marcel Heller to shine once more in Bavaria?
Darmstadt, like fellow Bundesliga conquerors, Ingolstadt, are enjoying life in the big time and for winger Marcel Heller, he has risen with the Lilies from 3. Liga to the Bundesliga in consecutive seasons. Darmstadt manager, Dirk Schuster, has been rewarded for his faith shown in the once faltering career of Heller, who, four seasons ago, saw his then Aachen side get relegated into Germany’s fourth tier. The 29-year-old has enjoyed his long awaited stint in the top flight by becoming the club’s top scorer with four goals. Heller has two in so many matches going into this weekend’s game away at struggling Augsburg. Markus Weinzierl’s Augsburg have started the season with one win in a lowly position of 16th after being the German surprise package last campaign, and even qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history. Possibly the superstitious ‘European hangover’ has affected Augsburg’s progress. Either way, the Bavarian side need to find their feet. The German Heller could prove his invaluable worth once again for the Lilies.
Ruthless Modeste might cause leaky Hannover issues
Once a Blackburn loanee, Anthony Modeste has revelled his time in Germany’s top flight. The French forward has bagged six goals in eight games for new club Köln so far this season after the switch from Hoffenheim. The 27-year-old had a lot of pressure on him originally to succeed, due to the fact he was the replacement for Bremen-bound Anthony Ujah, who was a popular figure at the RheinEnergieStadion. With this borne in mind, Modeste has been in fantastic form and a constant threat for the Billy Goats this season. The forward would fancy Sunday’s home tie against a Hannover team leaking goals at will. His power and pace, similar to Ujah’s, could cause Reds’ defenders, Marcelo and Felipe, problems. However, Michael Frontzeck’s side picked up their maiden win last time out with a 1-0 victory against a spiralling Bremen side, as well as a valuable away point at Wolfsburg, who are usually so dominant in front of their own fans.
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