Mainz - 1st Place in Bundesliga

[Adi]

Mainz has won their first 7 games of the season... only the 2nd team in Bundesliga history to do so (Bayern, Kaiserslautern).

Bayern, Bremen, Hamburg, Leverkusen, and Schalke are all struggling so far.  Mainz has opened up a 13 point lead over Bayern!

Where do you think they will finish?

I think they'll take 2nd place...  Dortmund #1, Mainz #2, Bayern #3.

 

[Royal Freakiness]

i just can't believe it!
first 7 games!  
Leverkusen
Dortmund
Mainz

[Adi]

They came back from 3-1 to beat Wolfsburg 4-3... incredible!

Holtby is hopefully going to choose to play for Germany of shitty England!

[bstcahill]

They are brilliant because they have lewis holtby, an everton fan!

[10RonaldoC]

yea i´m really pissed of of that
i hope bayern will take over the first place soon...
i don´t think mainz will reach the top 3 by the end of the season

[Chunkchenko]

I see them finishing no higher than 5th a lot of promoted teams start off really well but let their form drop a lot during the season just look at Hulls first season in the prem.

[Adi]

Yeah, but top teams in Germany are struggling big time this year.  You're probably right though but it will be quite different than the situation in England where you still have Chelsea, Man U, and Arsenal sitting high despite small teams doing well.

Bayern, Hamburg, Dortmund all won and Mainz lost this weekend.  Dortmund in first now.

Mario Gomez with a hattrick!!!

[Chunkchenko]

Yeah i noticed a lot of major teams in Europe have gotten off to a terrible start to the season so far i think at one point Schalke was last with Stuttgart above them. I dont really check league standings as often so it might be different now. Didnt Wolfsburg have a shitty start to the season too?

[Adi]

Yup, they won two in a row but lost yesterday 3:2 after being up 2:0.  Earlier in the season, they lost 4:3 to Mainz after being up 3:0.  They are probably one of the bottom 5 sides right now.

Germany is fun this year... tune in.

[Zlatan]

I see them finishing no higher than 5th a lot of promoted teams start off really well but let their form drop a lot during the season just look at Hulls first season in the prem.

Mainz finished 9th last season in the bundesliga.

I don't see them finishing top 5.. I think Leverkusen is probably the best team in Germany, but Dortmund is hot. Schalke isn't very good, they sold every good defender and replaced them with Metzelder lol. I see them midtable by the time its done.

[Sule]

Im falling in love with the Balls to the Wall attitude Mainz play with. Adam Szalai and Holtby are playing as though everyone else is underwater.

What Mainz need to do to keep up their form is stay solid defensively, and keep the mental intensity. Up until now no one was really expecting Mainz to play with this tactic of not holding back at all when playing. The real test will from Febuary till Mid-April. This is when the bulk of the 2nd games are (as in 2nd time you play a team) and it'll be much harder to come out with the gung-ho mentality because it'll be expected and opponents will adapt to counter this playing style

Regardless Im loving the Bundesliga this year. Cisse and Grafite for top scorer should be a good battle

[Adi]

I think Leverkusen is probably the best team in Germany.

 

You're being too modest.  Dortmund is miles better if you look at the second half of last season as well as this season.  Neverkusen hasn't been that great since last winter.  Probably still 4th best - based on form and quality it's probably Dortmund, Bayern, Leverkusen, Hamburg.