Three things we learnt from Bundesliga Matchday 14 Konferenz – St.Pauli finally win, Christian Eriksen arrives in the Bundesliga and Frankfurt learn from their mistakes | OneFootball

The penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga before the winter break began with Union Berlin beating RB Leipzig 3-1. 

Saturday afternoon saw Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt hosted Augsburg, Hoffenheim faced Hamburg, while a clash at the bottom saw Heidenheim travel to St.Pauli.

Here are the three things we learnt:

Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Bundesliga unbeaten run comes to an end:

Heading into their game against Wolfsburg, Gladbach were unbeaten in their last five Bundesliga games and had only conceded one goal (a penalty). However, today they simply collapsed.

Within 35 minutes, that had easily been torn apart by Wolfsburg and were 3-1 down after a double from Patrick Wimmer and a Lovro Majer goal. In the second half, VAR intervened to stop the Croatian from scoring his second, while the video assistant referee also ruled out a Haris Tabakovic goal to bring Gladbach back into the gap.

Overall, it was a rather toothless performance from Gladbach, with their brightest attacker being a 16-year-old subbed on in the 57th minute. 

While for Wolfsburg, it is their second win in a row and the second game where both Lovro Majer and Christian Eriksen have performed. It is safe to say that the Dane has arrived in the Bundesliga as he registered his third assist of the season, whilst also leading the game in chances created (two, via FotMob).

St Pauli end their 10-game winless run:

St.Pauli were also on their own run, however, theirs dated back to the 14th of September, which was the last time they won a game in the Bundesliga, a 2-1 win against Augsburg. Since then they have sunk down the table into 17th, which meant this relegation six-pointer against a resurgent Heidenheim was all the more important.

Thanks to a double from Martijn Kaars and resolute defending, St.Pauli were able to beat Frank Schmidt’s side 2-1. 

Joel Fujita was one of the standouts of St.Pauli’s early-season form, and today, he reminded everyone of the quality that he possesses. The 23-year-old assisted twice, as well as creating the most chances in the game (four), and completing 71% of his passes. Fujita has absolutely been helped by the return of Jackson Irvine in the midfield, forming a strong trio of Fujita, Irvine and James Sands. 

St.Pauli now move up to 16th in the Bundesliga table, and play rock bottom Mainz in their final game before the winter break. 

Frankfurt learn from their mistakes (kind of):

Last weekend, Frankfurt were humiliated by RB Leipzig, losing 6-0 in Saxony. So their game against Augsburg required them to build upon their performance in midweek against Barcelona. 

It started in the worst possible way when Chrislain Matsima opened the scoring, but an intervention by VAR saved die Adler’s blushes. The same thing nearly happened at the end of the game when Noahkai Banks also scored from a corner to equalise, but VAR would again step in. 

Away from those two goals, Frankfurt showed that they do have the ability to defend, limiting Augsburg to only one shot on target the whole game, but this could also be put down to the visitors’ inability to create chances. 

What also helped Frankfurt was Ritsu Doan’s great solo goal, which ended up being the winner, along with the return of Can Uzun from injury. The return of Uzun should go a long way in helping Frankfurt’s attack. 

Elsewhere around the Bundesliga:

There was only one other game in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon. Hamburg took 12-13,000 fans with them to Sinsheim to see them lose 4-1 to Hoffenheim. Christian Ilzer’s side move into the Bundesliga top four with Bayer Leverkusen to play 1.FC Köln later. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan