Erling Haaland has made a decision

Photo series with 20 pictures

–

But let’s stay in the Bundesliga for the first half of the season, where the FC Bayern Munich is not just autumn champions and championship leaders. With 116 goals in the calendar year 2021, he pulverized 1. FC Köln’s previous record (101 goals) from 1977.

With his goal on the last day of the first half of the season, Robert Lewandowski improved Gerd Müller’s record, which had been in place since 1972 – and scored 43 goals in a calendar year. Thomas Müller has completed his 400th Bundesliga game and scored his 134th goal – and set a new record with 15 assists in the first half of the season.

A small stain on the vest

And: Coach Julian Nagelsmann got an average of 2.64 points per game, putting himself at the top of all Bayern coaches in the club’s history – ahead of Hansi Flick, Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola and Ottmar Hitzfeld. He is authentic and quickly developed a good rapport with his players.

It’s not easy for someone who previously trained at Hoffenheim and Leipzig. You can’t just treat world-class players the same way and possibly fill them with a thousand scientific facts. You have to pick them up and involve them as almost complete player personalities. Nagelsmann managed it.

Only a small mark on Nagelsmann’s white vest is the 0: 5 against Borussia Mönchengladbach and the associated cup-out. But it can end up being dangerous for the season’s balance sheet.

Freiburg has everything to stay up there

Should Bayern be eliminated in the Champions League in the last sixteen or quarter-finals, it can no longer be considered a successful season. Because then all that remains is the championship.

Almost as pleasant: the one Sc freiburgwho has not allowed himself a single bad game. Third place is spectacular – and the team has everything it takes to stay on top: joy, willingness to fight and, above all, quality.

Only four points behind is surprisingly the one 1. FC Cologne with trainer Steffen Baumgart. What I particularly enjoy here is the manner in which it is made. Cologne is playing great football for the first time in years, as only teams with a better quality squad actually do. And in striker Anthony Modeste you can see what a coach’s trust can do. He was already written off, now he has scored eleven goals in 17 games.

The biggest surprise

Also Mainz 05 surprised. If you take the whole calendar year 2021, Mainz is in seventh place with coach Bo Svensson. I was particularly impressed by the press conference after the 1-0 defeat in Frankfurt. He said: “We weren’t ready, that’s also my responsibility. I also made mistakes preparing for this game. That annoys me a lot.”

Unfortunately, one hears such clear self-criticism far too seldom – and mostly primarily from top coaches like Thomas Tuchel or Jürgen Klopp, who were also Svensson’s predecessors in Mainz. I am convinced that Svensson can follow a similar path and will serve at a top club.

The biggest surprise in the table for calendar year 2021, however, is Eintracht Frankfurt. The Hessians are in third place and thus even ahead of RB Leipzig. It paid off completely to hold onto coach Oliver Glasner after a bad start to the season.

BVB first round does not match claims

This is also a success for sports director Markus Krösche, who moved from Leipzig to Frankfurt before the season started. RB should have missed him several times in the first half of the season.

And that brings us to the disappointments of the first half of the season, to the troubled clubs.

First and foremost, that is Borussia Dortmund with a total of nine competitive game defeats so far. After the 2: 3 at Hertha BSC, those responsible emphasized several times that their budget is significantly lower than that of FC Bayern and that they are at least second in the league. That may be true and is certainly worth applause, but BVB’s first half of the season does not meet the demands.

This is what frustration looks like: Erling Haaland in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 defeat at Hertha BSC. (Source: Dennis Ewert / RHR-FOTO / imago images)

Haaland’s question whirled around in his head

In the Champions League, Dortmund was eliminated in a feasible group and is now lagging behind economically with lower income. In the league, Borussia gambled away their good starting position in 14 days with just one point behind Bayern – and now they ticked off the championship trophy when they are nine points behind. She is simply not in a position to endanger FC Bayern.

I’m sure: Erling Haaland has also recognized this in these 14 days after he personally played an outstanding first half of the season and scored 19 goals in 16 competitive games. Of course, in the past few weeks the question has been swirling around in his head as to whether he should stay in Dortmund for another season in the summer or whether it would be better to pull out his release clause and join a top European club.

Haaland definitely wants to win titles. And also the German championship. It is clear that he is frustrated when that turns out to be unrealistic. He also showed his dissatisfaction against Hertha and played an unusually weak game. But when a 21-year-old has a bad day, it’s a cheap excuse for defeat.

Two factors prevent BVB from being successful

In the last minutes of the game, the TV camera showed Dortmund’s bench several times and with it the players who are actually much more responsible than Haaland: captain Marco Reus, international Julian Brandt and veteran Axel Witsel. They also have to decide such games and solve difficult situations.

But that only shows that there are ultimately two factors that prevent Dortmund from becoming dangerous to Bayern. First, the leading players have not lived up to the demands for years. Second, the second row just isn’t enough to play along at the very top. Those in charge will have recognized that because they have a lot of football skills in Dortmund and are rebuilding the squad accordingly in the summer.

Everyone knows: Haaland has made a decision

Basically, there is still a lot in it for BVB in the second half of the season. Certainly not the championship anymore, but at least the titles in the Europa League and in the DFB-Pokal. If they win one or even both titles, nobody will talk about second, third or fourth place in the league.

To do this, however, they need calm in the club and, accordingly, a decision from Haaland as soon as possible. I think that in truth everyone knows that they have long since made up their minds and will be gone in the summer.

Then it should also be possible to communicate this at least in the club early by February or at the latest in March. This is also in Haaland’s interest because it gives him the chance of at least one title. Letting BVB fidget, on the other hand, is not fair.

Leipzig gambled away

BVB is not the only club that wanted to stick with Bayern – the situation is even more dramatic RB Leipzig. They raved about the best squad of all time ahead of the season. As of today I haven’t seen anything of that. Leipzig is 21 points behind. You have to let that melt in your mouth.

There are seven games that Bayern won and RB lost if you calculate the 21 points. Of course they gambled away with their personnel policy, bet on the wrong coach with Jesse Marsch and wrongly sold the captain with Marcel Sabitzer.

It’s only worse in the first half of the season Borussia Monchengladbach and Wolfsburg happened. At VfL, not only the change of coach apparently had no effect. Managing director Jörg Schmadtke damaged the short-term coach Mark van Bommel with his statement that he had brought “the wrong man”.

Kramer’s statement is borderline

The first games in January will show whether Gladbach and manager Max Eberl were wrong. The most important thing is certainly the cup game against Hannover 96. The whole city longs to finally get this cup again after 1995 or at least to go to Berlin for the final. If that succeeds, the placement in the league no longer plays a role.

Christoph Kramer put it very clearly after the 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim: “If we hadn’t received so much legitimate criticism in the last few weeks, then I would stand here and say: ‘What kind of shit we played here, we were so bad never. ‘”He chose frank, honest words – and certainly right with his statement.

Christoph Kramer (left), here with coach Adi Hütter, is not a regular in Gladbach this season. (Source: Pressefoto Baumann / imago images)

I still find them borderline when you consider: This Christoph Kramer sat four games on the bench himself and missed six more injured. Right now he’s not the TV expert who should judge it from the side like at the European Championships in the summer. He is a player for Borussia Mönchengladbach and should perform himself first.

Gladbach duo will probably go to BVB

There is also great unrest in Gladbach. If they had been behind in Hoffenheim and then equalized late, they would have gone into the break with a good feeling. Unfortunately it was the other way around.

The big problem: The future of several important players at the same time has not been clarified. Matthias Ginter and Dennis Zakaria’s contracts expire in the summer. I think that in the end both of them will move to Dortmund. But it just needs clear relationships. Other players are also said to keep thinking about a “next step”.

After this first half of the season I would ask whether they even have what it takes to take a step like this. You should much rather concentrate on Gladbach and see that they perform well. So that Borussia can look up again in the second half of the season and maybe become a positive surprise. I would be happy.

I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Stay healthy. You will read my next column at t-online in January.

– .