Had a great start to the weekend with a Chinese colleague preparing food for everyone, they sure know how to cook. While I'm going to be watching the London derby I didn't wanna miss the chance to provide my Bundesliga picks.
Cologne-Schalke, Schalke's coach faces a lot of criticism and things go the usual way at Schalke, pretty much the reason why they consistently underperform. Cologne is just such an unpredictable team in my eyes, I can see them grabbing the home win but Schalke has more quality and often tends to get a win when its most needed. Can't find an edge on this game so staying away.
Frankfurt-Ingolstadt, Frankfurt is crap without their star striker Meier, even at home. Ingolstadt the nastiest team to play against and defensively just unbelievably solid. Unless Frankfurt scores a goal from set pieces I have a hard time seeing them score. If Ingolstadt takes the lead I think they go on to win this game. Always a struggle to have to hope for an Ingolstadt goal for a won bet at the moment I'm much more confident backing them instead of Frankfurt. Give me the away team here.
Augsburg-Leverkusen, liking the hosts to win this one. Leverkusen looked horrendous against Bremen. They were missing several crucial players then and the list just got extended by two additional prominent players: Chicharito and Donati. Don't see them getting a result today, especially their central defender Ramalho looked like lacking Bundesliga quality. The fact that coach Schmidt still sits of a suspension surely doesn't help Leverkusen's cause. This is a bet against Leverkusen more than anything.
Stuttgart-Hoffenheim, already posted my pick on Wednesday. I love the new Hoffenheim under coach Nagelsmann, think they will avoid relegation easily. Stuttgart looked solid a few games back but fans are starting to get worried again, their performance against Gladbach was terrible and before they managed to lose to Hannover. Getting such a line on Hoffenheim is a gift in my view, I'm gonna be backing them heavily.
I like Wolfsburg to beat Gladbach, Gladbach a rollercoaster team at the moment whereas Wolfsburg plays on a higher level than most of the season. This is Wolfsburgs chance to make up ground and get back in the race for the CL spots and with Schürrle finally finding the goal I like their chances of doing so.
Werder-Hannover, just had a look at the odds this morning, what a drop. I personally backed Werder a few days ago and then I got odds of 1.90. Now I'm not gonna post a pick with these odds when the odds available now are 1.65. In short, I think Werder will beat Hannover despite their struggle to win home games. They were dominant in the first leg and Hannover at home historically means home win. The visitors have to get a win here but Thomas Schaaf's teams have been notoriously weak away. Still, 1.65 is a crazy price when considering the results Bremen got at home so I'd advise to stay away and look whether it's not possible to put in a live bet. Anything around 2.00 is worth taking.
Finally, Der Klassiker. I do think people are showing a bit too much love for Dortmund in this one, it's still the best team in the league they are facing and they are angry. Yes Bayern has problems on defense but the quality remaining is still unbelievably high. I think Dortmund is up for the task and they do have a shot at winning this one but I think the draw might be the likeliest outcome and won't go crazy on backing Dortmund. I already locked in my bet on Dortmund on Wednesday but at this point I'd probably stay away entirely.
Bets so far:
Stuttgart-Hoffenheim, Hoffenheim +0.5 @ 2.00 (3/10)
Augsburg-Leverkusen, Augsburg +0 @ 2.13 (3/10)
Wolfsburg-Gladbach, Wolfsburg ML @ 2.00 (2/10)
Frankfurt-Ingolstadt, Ingolstadt +0 @ 2.09 (2/10)
Dortmund-Bayern, Dortmund +0.25 @ 1.93 (2/10)