Wally with a Brolly

Things we at WWaB love about the Bundesliga:

As is pretty standard for Germany's top tier, all of those happened this weekend, with some big fixtures including the top two clashing in Mainz. It's safe to say that at the start of the season nobody would have predicted Mainz and Dortmund would be setting the pace in the Bundesliga, but thanks to their good starts and Bayern opening their campaign sluggishly, they found themselves fighting it out for first place on Sunday afternoon.

If this game showed anything it was that, although Mainz have come a long way, they need to beware of what we term 'doing a Hull' (somehow doing well early on before the world wakes up and realises they're actually rubbish). Dortmund started the stronger, with nerves showing in the home defence - a woeful offside trap allowing Lucas Barrios through, but his shot dribbled agonisingly past the post. Just four minutes later we saw the first of our keeper howlers; Wettklo doing his best Paul Robinson impression, with a total air shot at a backpass from his left back. Fortunately for Mainz, the ball trickled behind for a corner.

Then began the Mario Goetze masterclass, with his driving runs from left midfield causing the Mainz defence serious problems - the tricky winger forcing a decent save from Wettklo on 20 minutes after weaving his way past numerous tackles. The bubble burst six minutes later though, with that man Goetze dancing through the defence and finishing with typical German efficiency past Wettklo.

Mainz went into the half time break with it all to do, but they were granted a golden opportunity two minutes after the restart, with a needless hack from Subotic gifting the home side a penalty. Eugen Polanski stepped up, but his weak penalty was at a decent height and Weidenfeller easily pushed it away. You felt from this moment that the momentum had swung Dortmund's way, and the side in yellow capitalised after 67 minutes, Goetze again at the heart of it, drawing two defenders to him before sliding a lovely through ball between them for Barrios to round Wettklo and slot home. 2-0 it finished - Dortmund looking very solid indeed, but it will be interesting to see how they fare if injuries hit hard.

Daniel Pranjic was on song in this Friday evening fixture, laying on 3 assists for his team, but the Freiburg manager will undoubtedly be displeased at his team's defending from set-pieces. The Munich team took the lead (and doubled it) from corners, with first Demichelis, then Gomez heading home Pranjic's deliveries either side of half time with the Freiburg defence static. The away team pulled one back with a neat header from Reisinger, but just a few minutes later Bayern restored their two-goal advantage - Anatoliy Tymoschuk scoring his first goal for the club with a low drive after a sweeping counter attack. There was still time for a Toni Kroos screamer to make it 4-1, before Edson Braafheid turned into his own net late on to put a warmer tint on the scoreline for the Freiburg fans. Bayern looking strong.

Life just isn't getting easier for Hamburg, the team looking a shadow of their former selves, and they fell to a hat-trick for Milivoje Novakovic - admittedly from about a combined 12 yards out! The hosts struck first thanks to their in-form striker, before HSV took the lead, first through Petric and then Heung Min Son. However, it was all to be in vain thanks to some very shaky defending which allowed Novakovic to pounce twice more, securing his first hat-trick in the Bundesliga, and a deserved 3 points for Koeln. Hamburg, however, have some serious problems.

Life hasn't been easy for Werder either, and a failure to adequately replace Mesut Ozil may cost them dear this season if results like this become more common. Marko Marin however looks to be stepping up to the plate, the diminutive winger laying the opening goal on a plate for Hugo Almeida to head home (although the Nuernberg tracking was questionable to say the least!), and proved a constant threat with his jinking runs tormenting both full backs. However, abysmal defending coupled with clinical finishing cost Werder dear, with  the visitors scoring twice with practically their only two shots on target. Late into the second half, Werder were caught by the sucker-punch with a third goal for Nuernberg on the counter. Despite having 5 defenders in the box, Werder were unable to stop the visitors hitting first the bar, then the post, then finally scoring! Claudio Pizarro slotted home a late consolation, but the Werderaner need to have a serious look at their defence.

We focused on Wolfsburg last week and it looks like their new 4-4-2 is finding some ground, with another home win against struggling Stuttgart. Admittedly, both their goals came from corners, with Simon Kjaer scoring his first goal for the club, before Edin Dzeko (who else?!) put the result beyond doubt. However, McClaren will certainly look for a way to better harness the talents of Diego in the number 10 spot, as their creativity was limited against Stuttgart. That being said, for a team that started the season leaking goals, this was a much improved defensive showing. As for Stuttgart, they offered very little in the VW-Arena, and whilst Wolfsburg hardly exhibited Brazilian flair, the visitors conjured up next to nothing over the ninety minutes. Ex-Spurs boss Christian Gross will be expecting much better in their next fixture - a huge match at home to Werder Bremen.

This match saw a contender for miss of the season from Gladbach's Idrissou, who somehow contrived to bobble a rebound past the post from 5 yards out with the goal gaping at 0-0 just before the hour mark. The 'other' team from Munich can't seem to buy a win at the moment, and with misses like this it is hardly surprising that they find themselves propping up the table. In typical fashion, the hosts took the lead a mere 5 minutes later, Tiffert curling home a gorgeous left footed strike from all of 30 yards. With Gladbach deflated, the hosts scored twice more to press home their advantage, first with Adam Nemec slotting home after a quick counter, and then Lakic finished it off, punishing an awful defensive error from left back Daerms.

Bundesliga newcomers St Pauli took the lead thanks to a lack of miscommunication between Arsenal favourite Jens Lehmann and his defence, allowing Zambrano to slot home a clever backheel. Unfortunately Zambrano turned from hero to zero after a needless kick at Gekas gave the visitors a penalty, which Gekas duly picked himself up and scored just before the half-time interval. Things would only go from bad to worse for the home team, with Asamoah getting himself sent off for a silly second yellow card after 48 minutes. Ten minutes later, a Bolton-esque long ball took out the entire St Pauli defence for Gekas to slide underneath the keeper, before Caio capped a solid away performance by heading in at the far post.

Probably the most disappointing team in the league thus far has been Schalke, and another home loss left boos ringing around Gelsenkirchen at full time. Lady Luck has not been on their side recently, and when an early header from Huntelaar struck the crossbar, the home fans might well have felt hard done by. This feeling was exacerbated further when a second Huntelaar header struck the post early in the second half, with Adler well beaten. Unfortunately, for all Schalke's attacking guile in Farfan, they just don't seem to be able to find the back of the net - how they are missing Kevin Kuranyi. As is often the case in football, when you don't take your chances you are punished, and the killer blow came from Sam on 67 minutes, slotting past Neuer after burning the Schalke defence for pace. Worrying times at Gelsenkirchen, although next week's home game against St Pauli could be just what they need.

Our final game of the weekend saw 3rd place Hoffenheim pulverise 4th place Hannover, after the stupid early dismissal of Schniederbach for two yellow cards (after just 20 minutes!) ruined the game as a spectacle. The hosts finally broke the deadlock after 41 minutes through a deflected shot from Gylfi Sigurdsson. Immediately after the restart they would double their lead from the spot, with Obasi leaving the defence for dead before being taken out. Sigurdsson stepped up to slot the spot-kick home for a 2-0 lead. Hannover's misery was compounded by a Demba Ba header from a Gylfi free-kick, and a Mlapa strike after a clinical counter-attack, but their manager is likely to be ruing the early red card.