Five Observations from Matchday 8 in the Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund continue to make the most of their chances.

Thanks to Understat (and Ineednoname), we get a good look at comparing the performance of Borussia Dortmund in their 4-0 win over Stuttgart and Bayern Munich in their 3-1 win over Wolfsburg. While the Bavarians had a a 2.76 xG against Wolfsburg, Dortmund had a .94 xG in their win. Bayern performed roughly as to be expected compared to their xG with three goals; however, Dortmund far outperformed theirs with four goals.

What should you take away from it?

It means that Dortmund are currently scoring goals well above their actual level at the moment. One would suspect that, eventually, Dortmund will come down from the current goalscoring high that they’re on. Maybe it’ll even come this month. Maybe it’ll happen before the next international break. Maybe it’ll happen on November 10 when Bayern visit Dortmund.

Oh... Oh dear, Schalke.

It certainly looks like Domenico Tedesco didn’t prep Schalke for anything over the international break. With another poor performance in their 0-2 loss to Werder Bremen, it can’t be long now before the Schalke brass send Tedesco packing. Right?

After eight matches, Schalke sit in 16th place on six points. While they haven’t been too bad at conceding goals so far (They’ve conceded 11 to ... Bayern’s 9.), they’ve only managed to score five goals this season. That’s not going to get the job done.

There’s no rest for Schalke. They have a Champions League match away to Galatasaray midweek and RB Leipzig away at the weekend. Then, they travel to FC Koln in the DFB Pokal. What’s it going to take for Schalke to get out of this slump?

Hoffenheim right at mid-table after poor start.

The season didn’t start off so hot for Julian Nagelsmann and Hoffenheim, but it looks like he’s finally turning them around and headed in the right direction. The Hoff lost four of their first seven matches, and it looked a little bit like Nagelsmann’s final season in Sinsheim was going to be a let down.

However, following the weekend’s win against Nurnberg, Hoffenheim’s next two Bundesliga matches are against struggling Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen. Taking all three points against teams languishing at the bottom of the table has long been an issue for clubs looking to take the next step and regularly challenge for European places in the Bundesliga.

Even though Nagelsmann will be departing Hoffenheim for RB Leipzig in the summer, he would love to be able to send Hoffenheim into Europe once again as a farewell.

Fortuna Dusseldorf definitely looked like a relegation favorite.

Yikes. If the Bundesliga, their television partners, and internet providers could remove all existing footage of Friday’s Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Dusseldorf match, the newly promoted side would love that.

Eintracht scored three before halftime and four after halftime in their Friday evening match. Luka Jovic had the match of his life finding the back of the net on FIVE different occasions. He had only scored two this season before the match..

Fortuna are currently at the bottom of the table with the worst goal differential in the Bundesliga. While they’re technically only three points out of 13th place, it’s really hard to see them generating enough points this season to remain out of the relegation battle. Hopefully, their fans will make this likely short stint in the top flight a memorable one.

Will Bayer Leverkusen get out of this funk?

So, they stink.

Like Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen should be much higher up the table currently. It’s inexcusable that they are languishing on only eight points after eight matches. So, What’s going on?

It’s a mix of everything. They can’t score goals (6th fewest) and they conceded too many (5th most). One would imagine that there are too many talented players on their team to not make a push for top of the table standings at some point, but it’s certainly not there yet.

Maybe, they’ll get there. It may not be with Heiko Herrlich calling the shots though.

Matchday 8 Results

Table