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.

FC Bayern München vs Schalke 04 Match Report

I take a break from reading Cable and Deadpool to bring you, ta-da, your latest match report! See how much I love you, kiddos? That's some dedication.

The question on everyone's mind today is: what did we do differently? What was the key to our success?

I'm not sure there's any one answer - but the biggest one in my mind is that we had a shift in attitude, we were more motivated and it showed. Maybe there's just something about playing Schalke that brings it out but we were a different team today than we were against Basel.

Assorted thoughts, in bullet point form:

+ This is the Franck Ribery that we like to see. Fired up, consistent, and chasing down every ball that goes his way. If he played every match like this, we'd be in fantastic shape.

+ The defense works - most of the time. Today, we were clicking. Holger Badstuber has been in particularly good form, although I am baffled as to why he always looks so angry. Someone needs to sit down with a beer.

+ Speaking of form, Thomas Müller needs to find his. Perhaps he should go on a quest, meet some knights in a forest, and ask a favor from a wizard. Jupp Heynckes should tell him he smells of elderberries, maybe that'll help.

+ I really hope you laughed at that.

+ No, I'm not a needy blogger.

+ (Yes, I am).

+ Not much for Manuel Neuer to do but as always, props to him for keeping his cool despite the continued booing from the Schalke faithful.

+ The goal videos for anyone who missed it.

Have a great rest of the weekend, folks.

Match Report: FCB v. FCK

There's something rather comedic about watching a Bayern match with Spanish commentators. And not just because my brain seems to think it should translate the Spanish into German, because clearly, German and Bayern are synonymous. No, it's the fact that apparently all commentators who work for ESPN, be they English- or Spanish-speaking, love Bastian Schweinsteiger with a fiery passion. One might have thought he was man of the match today, listening to them talk, despite the fact that he didn't play as he's out with a ligament injury in his ankle (this would be a good time to send him healing thoughts!). But there were also some beautiful turns of phrase, including discussing the "tranquility and absolute peace" with which Philipp Lahm plays.

All in all, it was a good match. Our fullbacks proved that LVG's tendency to play people out of position wasn't all crazy, as both Lahm and Rafinha looked like wingers for most of the match because of how far forward we played. Yeah, we missed some chances (poor Arjen Robben wanted a goal more than anything), but it was a solid win and we have much to be happy about (especially since CL action resumes this week...well, not for us, but CL action resumes anyway).

Next week, we're away to Freiburg.

Mario Gomez Appreciation Post

I could write a match wrap-up (we won, but it definitely wasn't pretty at times, but at least it can no longer be said about us this season that if the other team strikes first, we lose!), but I'd rather just take a moment to thank the universe, God, the Lords of Kobol, etc, for Mario Gomez.

Not to diminish anyone else's contribution today, but I feel like Mario deserves some love. He's always getting picked on and I just want to say that I never expected to love him as much as I do, but he's pretty brilliant. So here's to Mario! May the cannon ever be yours!

Thank god for Robbery!

Thanks to great performances from Arjen Robben (two goals on PKs) and Franck Ribery (a brace for him, too), we are back where we belong: the top of the table! What did we learn from this week's match?

*Toni Kroos has really stepped up in the absence of Bastian Schweinsteiger (who, btw, may be back to face Cologne later this month, just before the Christmas break!) and is helping to direct the flow of the match, even when he's playing more forward in the number ten spot. With Alaba playing out of position next to Gustavo in DM (you'll remember that Tymo was (unfairly) handed a three-match ban for a challenge and thus had to miss today's match), Kroos has proved he can be both an offensive threat (his shots from distance are really something) and a defensive roadblock. In short, he's apparently learned from Basti the secret to being everywhere on the pitch at once. I'm pretty sure I actually saw him dissolve and re-form on the other side of a couple of defenders today (Leo Messi, you're not the only one with superpowers!).

*Thomas Muller gets fouled an awful lot, but you'd think that teams would realize that fouling Muller in the box is a very bad idea. In the past few years, Bayern has scored more than a few goals off of PKs awarded because of fouls on Thomas. The commentator on ESPN3 commented that he's "enthusiastic" and he always has a "cheeky grin" on his face. To that, I say: If you look up "overenthusiastic" in a German dictionary, there will be a picture of Thomas Muller, grinning like a maniac. But he really does take one for the team more often than most and he had some awesome chances today, too. And his ability to play both on the wing and in the ten spot give us a lot of versatility.

*Why is it that teams get away with certain things against us (really? It's now okay to INTENTIONALLY ELBOW a player from the opposing team, Pizarro?)? I hate chippy football, regardless of who is doing it, but stuff like that is just ridiculous. You don't get to elbow Badstuber in the chest because you feel like it.

*I'm sure there will be all sorts of people talking badly about Mario Gomez because he didn't score today. But he was onside and the call was bad. And he then let Franck take the following shot, giving Franck the brace. Want a German lesson? "Das war nicht Abseits." Now you can all yell "That was not offsides!" at the linesman with me. And I love that, after the match, Mario was talking to the linesman, explaining how he had stayed onside.

We head to England on Wednesday to take on Manchester City. Good news is that we've already qualified for the elimination stage of the Champions League and, if we beat City, they will be out of European competition for the year. Our boys on the German NT got their draw for the European Championships next summer and we're in the "Group of Death" (to give you an idea, Brooks Peck over at Dirty Tackle gave the group four Mario Balotellis, which is a pretty scary idea) with Netherlands, Denmark, and Portugal. The good news is that Germany plays better when challenged (anyone else remember that loss to Serbia in the World Cup?) and it means that we'll get to watch Basti run circles around Cristiano Ronaldo early in the tournament! It also means action from Arjen Robben and former skipper Mark van Bommel in the group stage. Olic and Pranjic will be facing Ireland, Italy, and reigning champs Spain in their group. And Ribery and Tymo will face off when France and Ukraine join England and Sweden in Group D.

We'll see you back here on Wednesday post-Man City!