The Bundesliga Diaries Editorial – Match Day 17

It may be the most wonderful time of the year for most, but not for Heiko Herrlich. A 3-1 win for his Bayer Leverkusen side against Hertha Berlin was not enough for him to keep his job, with him being let go and quickly replaced by former Borussia Dortmund manager Peter Bosz. It appears to be bizarre timing, especially given Leverkusen have improved of late. For Hertha, the inconsistency continues.

Following the disappointment of midweek, Borussia Dortmund were back to winning ways this weekend. They beat 3rd place Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 at home to end 2018 on a positive note. It was an important victory, as Bayern Munich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 to keep the gap at six points.

RB Leipzig round out the top four going in to the winter break. Their 3-2 win against Werder Bremen was more hard-fought than necessary. They raced in to a 2-0 lead, before being pegged back to 2-2. Fortunately, Bruma was on hand to score the winner in the last five minutes.

After a promising start, Augsburg continue to struggle. They have not won in six, having been on the losing side in five of those games. This time, they succumbed to Wolfsburg (2-3), who are flying right now. As they looked to continue their momentum, they will not be happy that the pause has arrived.

It was a big matchday at the bottom, and Fortuna Dusseldorf and Schalke were the winners. Both were victorious, triumphing against Hannover 1-0 and Stuttgart 3-1 respectively. Hannover now find themselves in 17th place, with Nuremberg propping up the table. For the 11th time in a row, they failed to grab three points, this week losing against Freiburg. They will need to use the next three or so weeks to prepare themselves for an important second half of the season.