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  • Monday 9 March 2009

    Hertha in charge: Bundesliga reviews

    Schalke 1-0 Cologne
    Wolfsburg 1-0 Karlsruhe
    Bayern 5-1 Hannover
    Stuttgart 2-1 Dortmund
    Hoffenheim 0-0 Bremen
    Energie 1-3 Hertha
    Monchengladbach 4-1 Hamburg
    Leverkusen 1-1 Bochum
    Arminia 0-0 Eintracht

    Schalke's disappointing season has finally seen someone carry the can for it. Not coach Fred Rutten, but general manager Andreas Möller. And that despite the club scoring a much-needed win over Cologne at the weekend. Jermaine Jones hit the only goal of the game in the first half of a game which Schalke dominated without creating too much, though Kevin Kuranyi did have the ball in the back of his net. You're not supposed to use your hand though Kevin. They remain mired in mid-table obscurity alongside Leverkusen who were held 1-1 at home by Bochum. It took a Patrick Helmes penalty to rescue a lacklustre Leverkusen after Christoph Dabrowski had put Bochum ahead.

    Away in Cottbus, Hertha had few problems in recording a 3-1 win despite going a goal behind to Çagdas Atan on 20 minutes. Step up Andriy Voronin. He can't stop scoring at the moment and added another three to his tally as Hertha continue to set the pace at the top. Bayern took advantage of results elsewhere to go second after thrashing lowly Hannover 5-1. They had to come from behind as Jiri Stajner put Hannover ahead on 15 minutes. With no Toni and no Ribéry, a shock could have been on the cards, but Bayern instead opened a 54-gallon can of whup ass on them. Goals rained in, Daniel van Buyten with the first and others coming from Miroslav Klose, Hamit Altintop, Lukas Podolski and, late on, Martin Demichelis. Hoffenheim remain third after yet another draw, 0-0 at home to Bremen. Maybe the bubble really has burst for the villagers. They're struggling to win games at the moment. Hamburg went down in sensational fashion, losing 4-1 at Gladbach who pull themselves off the foot of the table for the first time since Adam was a lad. Marko Marin was unstoppable as he was the architect of this rout. He crossed for Rob Friend to open the scoring on 24 minutes. Mladen Petric pulled Hamburg level within minutes, but it was all Gladbach - all Marin - from there. Marin and Alex Baumjohann played in Tobias Levels to put them back in front, Roel Brouwers got the third and, fittingly, Marin scored a penalty late on to make it four. That leaves Karlsruhe bottom after their 1-0 defeat to Wolfsburg - still the form side of 2009 so far - Edin Dzeko with the winner.The Wolves are now one of four clubs level on 42 points, four behind the leaders from Berlin.

    Another Mario Gomez winner for Stuttgart keeps them still in with a shout of honours. Elson put Stuttgart ahead on 10 minutes before Nelson Valdez pulled Dortmund level until Gomez slotted home his 14th of the season to win it. Bielefeld and Eintracht played out a 0-0 draw which doesn't really help either side. Arminia have scored just 19 league goals this season and Artur Wichniarek, who has 12 of those, was out injured. But Frankfurt couldn't break them down, so goalless it remained.

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