Three things we learnt from the Bundesliga Matchday 13 Konferenz: Bayern Munich thrashing Stuttgart, late drama and wins for managerless teams | OneFootball

After Borussia Mönchengladbach continued their five-game unbeaten run in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win against Mainz, it was the turn of 10 other teams this afternoon. 

The standout game was VfB Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich, while Augsburg faced Bayer Leverkusen, 1.FC Köln hosted St.Pauli, Heidenheim were against Freiburg, and Union Berlin travelled to Wolfsburg

Here are the things we learnt from the Bundesliga Konferenz: 

Wins for the managerless teams:

While it looks as if Mainz will have a new head coach next weekend, Wolfsburg and Augsburg still have interim head coaches in place, and both were able to win today.

Augsburg’s win under Manuel Baum was probably the most surprising as they beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0, thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Ernest Poku and an Anton Kade strike in the first half. The Fuggerstadt side did ride their luck at times, with Leverkusen hitting the woodwork four times. 

Despite the win, there is little breathing space with the Bundesliga relegation places (we’ll get to that).

Wolfsburg also won their first game since the end of October when they beat Union Berlin 3-1. It was a clinical performance in the Autostadt with Wolfsburg having four shots the whole game and scoring from three of them. Christian Eriksen was also able to provide the second assist of his Wolfsburg career.

As mentioned, though, there was another shake-up at the bottom.

Heidenheim and St.Pauli leave it late – shaking up the bottom of the Bundesliga:

Last week, Heidenheim scored twice in the added time to beat Union Berlin and give them hope of survival, and then they went and did the same thing again this week. Scoring in the 94th minute to come from behind to beat Freiburg 2-1. 

The win meant Frank Schmidt’s side moved into 16th and are only one point away from safety. 

While St.Pauli also scored in the 94th minute to bring to an end their nine-game losing run in the Bundesliga. It looked as if the run was going to extend to 10 games when Said El Mala scored on the counter, but substitute Ricky Jade-Jones scored on his debut for the club to rescue a point. 

The 23-year-old moved to Germany in the summer from Peterborough on a free transfer, but a shoulder injury kept him out until now. 

Bayern Munich thrash VfB Stuttgart:

A common theme of recent Bundesliga games, Bayern look to be on the ropes, something goes their way and then their opponent collapses. That is what happened here.

Bayern took the lead through a well-worked move and a smart finish from Konrad Laimer, but it looked as if Stuttgart had equalised just before half-time when Nikolas Nartey (who has his own interesting story), but it would be ruled out for offside. 

Then, in the 60th minute, enter Harry Kane. 

66th minute, the Englishman made it 2-0, and this was the beginning of the Stuttgart collapse. 78th minute, Josip Stanisic’s shot sneaked in after Alexander Nübel fumbled the ball into the net – 3-0. 82nd, Kane converts a penalty – 4-0. Finally, the 32-year-old would make it 5-0 in the 88th minute. 

Bayern move 11 points clear of RB Leipzig, who play Eintracht Frankfurt in the Saturday evening kick-off. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan