uh? here I am again?

I feel as if I start every blog entry here with "don't worry, I'm still alive!" It's just been that kind of year - busy, hectic, you pick your favorite adjective.

A couple of thoughts:

→ The first leg against Marseille: it wasn't pretty. We won but it was hardly with the same ease that we had against Basel. That's okay - Marseille played defensively at home and we didn't let them get many solid chances. If this is how we have to learn how to win away, I'm at peace with it.

→ As the overly dramatic English comms like to put it, we are breathing down Dortmund's neck in terms of the league table. Today, they face Stuttgart, our Southern brother's from another mother. Will Stuttgart do us a solid? I'm trying not to think about it too much - we'll see how that plays out.

→ Derby Time! Tomorrow, we take on Nürnberg. You could listen to me (or, you know, read) natter on about it or you could check out the excellent match preview by our friends over at Red Robbery: Right here.

Have a great weekend. Eat some chimichangas. Take it easy, kiddos.

14 goals in 4 days: This ain't no exhibition match!

Apparently, Chary's last post got through to the team. Two 7-goal matches in four days? Sign me up for that!

The match against Hoffenheim was lovely from start to finish. Wide open, lots of chances created (and quite a few resulted in goals, thus the score), but, most importantly, the boys seemed to be enjoying themselves again. Ribery was absolutely everywhere and David Alaba playing at LB has injected some energy into the back line.

But the match against Basel was, to borrow a term from our coach, perfect. Anyone who doubted Mario Gomez's abilities has to sit back and be quiet after that match (seriously, watch the goals from that, and how some of them were scored from ridiculous body positioning and angles, and tell me that you're not impressed). Gomez is now on 11 hat tricks in 17 months. Even Muller scored, and we all know how hard it's been for him to find the back of the net.

So what's responsible for this turnaround? Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with our vice captain being back with the team. Even his presence on the bench seems to do wonders for team morale and having him back on the pitch has been lovely. If you're questioning whether his form is back, check out his assist from the Basel match. Brilliant stuff.

The big question is who we will draw for the Round of 8. Possibilities include Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Barcelona. We're only 5 points off the top of the table in the league (and, let's be honest, our GD is freaking awesome) and we have a pokal match coming up with Monchengladbach. All in all, the treble is still very much a possibility.

For lack of a better term

if I can get it together for an 8 am class after a night of raucous drinking, Bayern can at least get it together for the rest of the season.