It doesn't pay to count your chickens

So I was listening to HR3, the local radio station, on the way to the game on Saturday, and the idiot practically guaranteed defeat for Eintracht by pointing out the best ways to get to the satdium from the A3 from an Easterly direction, and then thanking Cottbus for leaving the three points behind on their way back. Of course, Eintracht crashed to a 3-1 defeat, sustaining three sucker punches on the break (ably assisted by the useless Alex Meier for the first one - him scoring was the only positive thing he managed for 90 minutes) and losing Christoph Preuß to a very nasty injury that is really not safe for work - you have been warned.

Things for Frankfurt to note: Marcel Heller is wasted on the wing. Get a 4-4-2 going and let him attack with Takahara. First time crosses work - witness the goal. Faffing about in the corner doesn't work. Köhler - the opposition notices when you always check back on to your left foot. So stop it. If the opposing goalie is easily rattled then rattle him. Stop poncing about.

Luckily there are teams that seem to be as inept as Eintracht at the moment but let's start at the top. Schalke managed a nervy 2-0 home win to Monchengladbach to maintain their two point lead over Werder, who managed a workmanlike 1-0 home win over Nürnberg. Stuttgart scored 4 goals in the first half to win away in Hamburg and stay third, whilst Bayern didn't let up either, scoring two screamers to beat Hannover 2-1 and stay in contention in fourth.

Apart from Monchengladbach who now appear doomed, Bielefeld drew 1-1 away in Berlin and Mainz lost 3-2 away to Wolfsburg. These are now the only teams below Frankfurt in 18th, 17th and 16th respectively. I would be happy if the season ended now. Amazingly, Bochum beat Leverkusen 4-1 away (three goals in the first 22 minutes!) and Dortmund beat Aachen by the same score away.

The relegation battle therefore still goes up to 7th place (!) where VfL Wolfsburg currently reside with 35 points - Mainz have 30 in 16th, and Eintracht 31 in 15th. I'll try for some more in depth analysis later, but I am still thoroughly peeved with the game, result and general all round play on Saturday. Why oh why did I end up in this town and not in Münich?! For the rest of my sins, I also support West Ham, but that's a story for another day!

The current table

Update! Hertha Berlin have sacked their coach Falko Götz for the second time - this time for the recent run of poor results.