Another weekend of superb Bundesliga action has been served up in between the midweek European offerings. Der Klassiker brought a very entertaining 2-2 draw then on Sunday came an equally eventful Rheinderby. Bochum got a first win, while Werder Bremen moved up to fifth.
So just who where the winners and losers of matchday 11?
The winners
VfL Bochum
At the ninth time of asking Bochum finally bagged their first win of the season in new trainer Thomas Letsch’s first home game. It came as quite a surprise that the triumph came against Eintracht Frankfurt, who had beaten leaders Union Berlin a week previously. The 3-0 scoreline may have flattered the hosts a little, but their effort and application couldn’t be faulted.
Philipp Hofmann scored the first on 71 minutes with the game being decided when Evan Ndicka scored an own goal in the 87th minute. Gloss was put on the result with a 91st minute goal from Philipp Förster. Bochum remain bottom of the table, but they are winless no more and having previously only scored five in eight games, they added three in one go.
Niclas Füllkrug
After two goals and an assist last week against Mönchengladbach Niclas Füllkrug added another goal and another assist on Friday against Hoffenheim. Under the watchful eye of Bundestrainer Hansi Flick, the Werder Bremen striker did his chances of a potential World Cup call-up no harm at all and is gaining more and more support with each passing game.
He set up partner Marvin Ducksch for his second goal in two games and then kept his nerve in the final minutes of the game to dispatch a penalty to win the game for the Grün-Weißen.
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Last week’s 5-1 hammering at the hands of Werder Bremen came as quite a shock for the Foals and the pressure was on them going into the Rheinderby against Köln, who had won the last two meetings at the Borussia Park.
Daniel Farke resisted the temptation to make changes to the starting XI instead giving the side embarrassed by Werder the opportunity to make amends.
Make amends they certainly did with a 5-2 win to take the derby glory and three important Bundesliga points. The sides went in at the break all-square with goals from Marvin Friedrich and a Florian Kainz penalty. However, a red card for Kainz and a penalty handed the initiative to the home side.
Ramy Bensebaini, so poor against Bremen, scored the penalty and also added another with a screamer from Lars Stindl and Marcus Thuram completing the Gladbach scoring.
Xabi Alonso/ Bayer Leverkusen
With Leverkusen pulling the plug on the Gerardo Seoane era after the midweek defeat to Porto and not giving him the chance to beat Schalke to save his job, it was Xabi Alonso in the Bayer technical area to face the Königsblauen.
If it was a reaction they were after, a reaction is what they got with the Werkself comfortably winning 4-0. The pacey duo of Moussa Diaby and Jeremie Frimpong terrorised a passive Schalke with the former scoring once the opener and Frimpong adding a brace. A rare appearance from the bench for Paulinho saw the Brazilian add a goal and hand Xabi Alonso a debut win as Leverkusen trainer.
Anthony Modeste
For so long the fall guy and the target of criticism, Modeste had to settle for a place on the bench for the Klassiker but made a massive impact when introduced by coach Edin Terzic in the second half.
He provided the unselfish assist to set-up Youssoufa Moukoko for BVB’s first goal and then was on hand at the far post to head in the last-gasp equaliser and send the Signal Iduna Park crazy. He has admittedly been a disappointment so far, but this will go a long way to winning over the Schwarzgelben faithful. The goal was doubly important as the striker had missed an absolute sitter earlier that would have heaped more derision upon him had he not produced his later heroics.
Daniel-Kofi Kyereh
After a first Bundesliga goal last weekend and another in the Europa League in midweek, the summer signing from St, Pauli scored against Union Berlin at the Olympiastadion to continue his impressive scoring streak.
The losers
Eintracht Frankfurt
After handing league leaders Union Berlin their first defeat of the season last week and then achieving a more than respectable draw against Tottenham in the Champions League, the trip to bottom side Bochum looked a formality for Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Nothing however can be taken for granted in the Bundesliga and the winless Ruhr side, under new coach Thomas Letsch at home for the first time, emerged as 3-0 winners with a real workers performance. They took the lead towards the end with a header from a corner before an own goal doubled their lead, A superb late effort from Philipp Förster was the icing on the cake.
The winless streak is over, and the challenge now is to get a few more and start the climb out of the relegation zone.
Florian Kainz
He may have scored the penalty in the first half to get Köln back level in the Rheinderby, but the midfielder then went from zero to hero just before the interval by conceding the penalty that allowed Borussia Mönchengladbach to lead 2-1 and got sent off in the process to leave the Geißböcke with a man less for the second period.
Schalke
The Königsblauen dropped into the bottom three with their loss to Bayer Leverkusen and the pressure is starting to grow on the promoted side. With fellow newcomers Werder Bremen riding high in the table, the fact that they are struggling stands out even more.
Against Leverkusen they had no answer to the pace directed at them by Moussa Diaby and Jeremie Frimpong and were generally passive and without positive ideas going forward.
Deniz Aytekin
When Aytekin booked Marcel Sabitzer with less than two minutes played in the Klassiker, he made a rod for his own back and the cards were in and out of his pocket more regularly than Erling Haaland hitting the back of the net in the Premier League (okay not that regularly but you get the message).
Jude Bellingham was booked when he should not have been for a sturdy challenge on Jamal Musiala, while he then wasn’t booked a second time for kicking Alphonso Davies in the eye socket.
Kingsley Coman was rightly dismissed for two clumsy challenges, but overall, the referee made a tough night even harder for himself with some irrational decisions.
Serhou Guirassy
After Union Berlin finally broke the deadlock at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Sunday in the 77th minute Guirassy’s head went. He was booked after a clash with Rani Khedira on 78 minutes and then booked again five minutes later for a foul on Morten Thorsby.
