While waiting for the Christmas break to end, Der Kicker, the most respected and prestigious sports magazine, published their ranking for the best defensive midfielders in the Bundesliga of the 2024/25 season so far:
https://bulinews.com/best-defensive/central-midfielders-the-bundesliga-the-2024/25-season-far
They divided their ranking into 3 categories, World Class, International class, and National class.
Strangely enough, they decided nobody was worthy of being ranked as World Class. The highest-ranked defensive midfielder is Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich).
Topic: Germany League - Bundesliga Prediction Thread - page 73. (Read 673673 times)
Xabi Alonso's men has been playing really well in recent times. If you see the last match, they have played like they were the best team in the Bundesliga. Schick has played extra ordinary in that match. He alone scored 5 goals 
. Die Werkself dominated the whole match, they had 67% possession in this match, 20 shots, and 12 of them were on target. This was a greatly one-sided match and I did not expect this match to be so one-sided. Looking at performances like these I agree with you that they are definitely going to give Bayern Munich a lot of problems. We, or at least I thought that Bayern is going to have an easy time this season. But It seems like this is not right. If Bayern makes any slip-up Leverkusen will be there to take advantage of that. And this alone is going to keep both the teams honest.
not surprised actually if the match will end with a big win for Leverkusen. Freiburg was also defeated by Dortmund with a score of 4-0 and now they have to lose 5-1 to Leverkusen. Leverkusen has the spirit to continue winning matches in the future. they are chasing Munich who has a points difference in the competition. so Leverkusen must not lose points if they want to catch up with Munich.. Die Werkself dominated the whole match, they had 67% possession in this match, 20 shots, and 12 of them were on target. This was a greatly one-sided match and I did not expect this match to be so one-sided. Looking at performances like these I agree with you that they are definitely going to give Bayern Munich a lot of problems. We, or at least I thought that Bayern is going to have an easy time this season. But It seems like this is not right. If Bayern makes any slip-up Leverkusen will be there to take advantage of that. And this alone is going to keep both the teams honest.It's hard to really say much or little. At the beginning of the season everyone wrote Leverkusen off, but now they are four points behind Bayern. Only half of the season has passed and if Liverkusen remain stable, then we can start to think that it is dangerous for Bayern, but now I agree with you that they are very far from the first place, Bayer play a lot of draws.
hero member
Activity: 1568
Merit: 822
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
Xabi Alonso will try his best to improve the quality of the team and also to be more consistent in the second half of the season, because the four-point gap is not impossible to catch up with if in the second half Leverkusen will also meet Bayern Munich again so that efforts to make the team stronger will not be in vain for Xabi Alonso. But for Kompany, he will also make important improvements to the Bayern Munich team before the second half of the season begins so that they can distance themselves from their rivals in the Bundesliga standings later.
Both teams still have a good chance of securing the Bundesliga trophy this season because the points difference they have is not big. Xabi Alonso must have strong confidence to defend the Bundesliga title and they will try to do everything to catch up on the points gap from Bayern Munich. Likewise with Kompany because he also will not let the opportunity to win the Bundesliga trophy this season be lost and this will be a real test because even though he is considered an inexperienced coach, he is determined to prove the success of his first season with Bayern Munich. So there is still a chance for both of them and it depends on the level of consistency in facing competition until the end of the season. 
If Eintracht Frankfurt eventually manages to win the trophy, it will be another big surprise in the Bundesliga. Bundesliga fans certainly want to see a new champion every season, but whoever is ambitious to win the trophy, they must be able to beat Bayern Munchen and Leverkusen first. Overall, I really enjoyed the Bundesliga this season, unfortunately Leverkusen unbeaten record was broken too quickly.
I believe that no one is betting on Eintracht Frankfurt to be champions, but if they were to become champions, then we would be seeing a big change in the times, because Bayern would be completing two consecutive seasons without being champions. And in my opinion I think that Bayern will be champions this season. They are better than last season and Leverkusen has not been as consistent as last season, but they are still fighting for the title.
The pressure from Leverkusen makes the competition more challenging, Xabi Alonso just needs to maintain his team's performance so as not to slip under any circumstances to keep the competition alive. Anything can happen in the second half of the season, including Bayern Munich dropping points like they did against Mainz. The four-point gap is not too far, there is still a possibility of a change in position if Bayern Munich is unable to maintain the consistency they have shown so far.
Xabi Alonso will try his best to improve the quality of the team and also to be more consistent in the second half of the season, because the four-point gap is not impossible to catch up with if in the second half Leverkusen will also meet Bayern Munich again so that efforts to make the team stronger will not be in vain for Xabi Alonso. But for Kompany, he will also make important improvements to the Bayern Munich team before the second half of the season begins so that they can distance themselves from their rivals in the Bundesliga standings later.Both teams will enter the second half of the season, so every match will be very crucial and decisive for them, including the match of week 22 which brings together Leverkusen vs Munich later.
I don’t even see Dortmund among the top teams that will have a chance for the Bundesliga title this season. There performance is not encouraging and will not help in any way to make them a formidable team this season in the Bundesliga. Bayern Leverkusen have surpassed them in performance since last season and as they continue for the fight for the league title, they are the only one that stand the chance to displace Bayern Munich from the top position just like last season. Dortmund performance is getting poorer and until they improve, they won’t be able to achieve anything this season too.
Dortmund ha be nothing to do in the Bundesliga this season, because there performances is not that enough that will give people hope that they can able to dominate the league tittle; they should just continue to they manage the 6th place, but I don’t think they can Abel to even raised their points to claim the 3rd position with there currently performances.When this season started Bayern Leverkusen performance was very poorly and that’s why people’s where surprised when they see them in the 2nd position in the table with the higher points, but indeed with their much efforts there able to get their performance back; and their about to make performance to become standard like previous season.
~~
From what I have witnessed recently, Leverkusen has been very consistent and has won consecutively in the last 8 matches and currently Leverkusen is quite clearly chasing Bayern Munich even though they were previously quite far behind but now their points difference is only 4 points while Bayern Munich in their last 5 matches has lost 4 points meaning Leverkusen still has a chance to overtake Bayern Munich if this club makes a mistake because the journey is still very long, both Leverkusen and Bayern Munich still have the same chance.We know that Leverkusen's performance is currently on track, I mean Xabi Alonso's team has performed well in its 8 matches without defeat across competitions. but it is not easy to overtake the ranking occupied by Bayern Munich even though it is only 4 points apart, besides that several other teams are ready to block Leverkusen's progress. even so, Leverkusen has a chance to defend the title they won last season. it's just that, Leverkusen must be more disciplined and consistent, especially in their defense. let's just see how Leverkusen will play their match, especially in the 16th week visiting Borussia Dortmund's headquarters. Dortmund is not an easy opponent, they are also capable of defeating Leverkusen. if they lose and at the same time Munich wins, then the points gap will widen. well, let's just see how Leverkusen plays their match.
Xabi Alonso will try his best to improve the quality of the team and also to be more consistent in the second half of the season, because the four-point gap is not impossible to catch up with if in the second half Leverkusen will also meet Bayern Munich again so that efforts to make the team stronger will not be in vain for Xabi Alonso. But for Kompany, he will also make important improvements to the Bayern Munich team before the second half of the season begins so that they can distance themselves from their rivals in the Bundesliga standings later.
It is clear that Xabi Alonso and Vincent Kompany have a lot of work to do to get their teams ready for second half of season. Alonso wants to help Leverkusen play better and catch up with Bayern Munich. They are four points behind but they will play Bayern Munich again soon. If Alonso can make his team stronger they might have chance to win.On the other hand Kompany is working hard to make Bayern Munich team even better. He wants to help them stay ahead of the other teams in league. Competition between Leverkusen and Bayern Munich will get even stronger in second half of season. It will be exciting to see how both teams do.
The pressure from Leverkusen makes the competition more challenging, Xabi Alonso just needs to maintain his team's performance so as not to slip under any circumstances to keep the competition alive. Anything can happen in the second half of the season, including Bayern Munich dropping points like they did against Mainz. The four-point gap is not too far, there is still a possibility of a change in position if Bayern Munich is unable to maintain the consistency they have shown so far.
Xabi Alonso will try his best to improve the quality of the team and also to be more consistent in the second half of the season, because the four-point gap is not impossible to catch up with if in the second half Leverkusen will also meet Bayern Munich again so that efforts to make the team stronger will not be in vain for Xabi Alonso. But for Kompany, he will also make important improvements to the Bayern Munich team before the second half of the season begins so that they can distance themselves from their rivals in the Bundesliga standings later. 
~~~
It's hard to really say much or little. At the beginning of the season everyone wrote Leverkusen off, but now they are four points behind Bayern. Only half of the season has passed and if Liverkusen remain stable, then we can start to think that it is dangerous for Bayern, but now I agree with you that they are very far from the first place, Bayer play a lot of draws.Dortmund are looking to get back into the top four, they could spring a surprise in the second half of the season having been a regular team to qualify for the Champions League. They are also a threat to other big teams because they always appear different when competing in Big Match games.
It's hard to really say much or little. At the beginning of the season everyone wrote Leverkusen off, but now they are four points behind Bayern. Only half of the season has passed and if Liverkusen remain stable, then we can start to think that it is dangerous for Bayern, but now I agree with you that they are very far from the first place, Bayer play a lot of draws.
~snip~
We saw that they did their best by trusting him. Kompany was a football player with a leadership personality in his football career. I think he is doing well as a coach. It is a fact that he is performing above expectations at Bayern Munich. They are leaders in the Bundesliga and are better than teams like Real Madrid and Manchester City in the Champions League. I think the management made a successful move by bringing him to the team. Bayern Munich made offers to several coaches at the beginning of the season. Now we see that those coaches have rejected them, thank goodness, and Kompany has come to the team.You should not compare Bayern Munich with Real Madrid or Manchester City because these two giant team are now in unstable conditions, but it should be noted that Real Madrid is starting to improve and they have the opportunity to win the La Liga title again even though in the UCL both are team that have experienced very significant decline.
Snip
I was actually disappointed at Bayern Munic for loosing to Mainz but as it is football, such things happens to male the sports interesting and full of surprises. On the other hand, I love the energy with which they bounced back by humiliating RB Leipzig with 5:0. This results shows that Bayern Munic losing to Mainz might actually be a mistake, although, it is a costly mistake. Bayern Munic have good opportunity to win the German Bundesliga this season even though they still have many teams to contend with.Now there is only four points gap between Bayern Munich and Leverkusen which can give them a much higher chance.
Bayern Leverkusen may be the people to benefit from the loss of Bayern Munic because it will enable them to catch up on them. Like you said, seven points gap have been reduced to four points gap which means that if Bayern Munic loses two more matches, Bayern Leverkusen may be on their way to retaining their title.
The Bundesliga is more competitive this season, and I think that's good enough to change the image of the Bundesliga which has been known as boring. Meanwhile, Dortmund, I think they do have a chance to rise in the second half of the season, and that will make the competition in the top four of the standings even fiercer. The strength of Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig is actually also worth considering, but considering the reputation and mentality of the team, Dortmund is indeed worthy of competing in the Champions League zone.
Indeed. Bundesliga becomes more competitive because Bayern Munich returns to their good performance again. It was very different from the previous season when Bayern Munich couldn't compete with Leverkusen. Even, Leverkusen was unbeaten in the whole season. Sure, it was quite boring because Leverkusen has no competitor for the title race. Now, Bayern Munich and Leverkusen have no big point difference in the table. I think they will compete fiercely until the end of the season. It is still difficult to predict which team will be the champion for this season.Frankfurt, Leipzig, Dortmund, and Mainz actually still have the same chance. Which team to be in the UCL zone at the end of the season, it will depend on how consistent they will play in the next few matches. Sometimes, there will be some changes on the performance of the team in the second half of the season. Sure, I hope we will see Dortmund to return to its best performance again.
The point difference between Dortmund who are in 6th position and the 3rd position is just 2 points so I believe if they sit up they can go higher up the table, but I agree with what you said that they can't compete for the title. Dortmund is too inconsistent to be a title contender. Even if they were just 2 points behind the league leaders I won't trust them to win the league. As an institution, Dortmund is not ready to win the league.
That's the reality. We can see the Bundesliga results in the previous few seasons and we will see Dortmund who are almost always in 2nd place in the standings. And the closest is the 2022-2023 season, Dortmund and Munich have the same number of points in the standings, but only Munich wins in the difference in the number of goals scored. In terms of performance, they have decreased I think. They have to fix everything if they want to compete for the title, at least for the coming season.Secondly, whenever they buy players, they give up their wrong moves and they end up with getting older players at times, like their striker this season, sure he is good, but he is old, that is not what gave them success, younger and potentially great players made them great.
Xabi Alonso's men has been playing really well in recent times. If you see the last match, they have played like they were the best team in the Bundesliga. Schick has played extra ordinary in that match. He alone scored 5 goals . Die Werkself dominated the whole match, they had 67% possession in this match, 20 shots, and 12 of them were on target. This was a greatly one-sided match and I did not expect this match to be so one-sided. Looking at performances like these I agree with you that they are definitely going to give Bayern Munich a lot of problems. We, or at least I thought that Bayern is going to have an easy time this season. But It seems like this is not right. If Bayern makes any slip-up Leverkusen will be there to take advantage of that. And this alone is going to keep both the teams honest.
not surprised actually if the match will end with a big win for Leverkusen. Freiburg was also defeated by Dortmund with a score of 4-0 and now they have to lose 5-1 to Leverkusen. Leverkusen has the spirit to continue winning matches in the future. they are chasing Munich who has a points difference in the competition. so Leverkusen must not lose points if they want to catch up with Munich.. Die Werkself dominated the whole match, they had 67% possession in this match, 20 shots, and 12 of them were on target. This was a greatly one-sided match and I did not expect this match to be so one-sided. Looking at performances like these I agree with you that they are definitely going to give Bayern Munich a lot of problems. We, or at least I thought that Bayern is going to have an easy time this season. But It seems like this is not right. If Bayern makes any slip-up Leverkusen will be there to take advantage of that. And this alone is going to keep both the teams honest.It's hard to really say much or little. At the beginning of the season everyone wrote Leverkusen off, but now they are four points behind Bayern. Only half of the season has passed and if Liverkusen remain stable, then we can start to think that it is dangerous for Bayern, but now I agree with you that they are very far from the first place, Bayer play a lot of draws.
You are right, Leverkusen was unbeaten last season. Even Munich could not catch up with a fairly large point difference. But Dortmund did not perform well, it was not better than Leipzig and Stuttgart. This season the competition is also tighter. Leverkusen is no longer unbeaten like last season. Some teams are also getting stronger, if Dortmund can not keep up to improve their game, they will be further displaced.
To be honest in my opinion this season is more interesting for now as there are more teams that can make it to get the title.I already said and written it a few times , the first 6 Teams still have a chance for it as the point difference are not that much.
I hope that Dortmund will be making some improvements for the second half of the season.
What also would be awesome that maybe Frankfurt getting the title.
If Eintracht Frankfurt eventually manages to win the trophy, it will be another big surprise in the Bundesliga. Bundesliga fans certainly want to see a new champion every season, but whoever is ambitious to win the trophy, they must be able to beat Bayern Munchen and Leverkusen first. Overall, I really enjoyed the Bundesliga this season, unfortunately Leverkusen unbeaten record was broken too quickly.
Here is how top 6 looks like now:
The top 2 aren't surprising teams. But I see a Mainz there at the 5th position.
It has been quite a season for them, isn't it? For teams like them, it is never easy to keep up this impressive work throughout a season. But let's see how they roll...
Watching Dortmund trying to win games and fail many times makes me sad about them. They haven't been getting a loss for many weeks which is the only positive thing here. But those draws on the recent weeks pushed them down quite much in the standings.
The defensive problems persist. They can't make up for it with their scoring good enough either. Otherwise they would have easily been in top 4 now. But the season is still long. I expect Nuri Şahin to prepare his team better for the rest of the games after observing the weaknesses.
The top 2 aren't surprising teams. But I see a Mainz there at the 5th position.
It has been quite a season for them, isn't it? For teams like them, it is never easy to keep up this impressive work throughout a season. But let's see how they roll...Watching Dortmund trying to win games and fail many times makes me sad about them. They haven't been getting a loss for many weeks which is the only positive thing here. But those draws on the recent weeks pushed them down quite much in the standings.
The defensive problems persist. They can't make up for it with their scoring good enough either. Otherwise they would have easily been in top 4 now. But the season is still long. I expect Nuri Şahin to prepare his team better for the rest of the games after observing the weaknesses.
Erm yes you are right and I have to confess that I missed that. Mainz is in fifth position, which is pretty damn awesome for that club and not only that, but also are they the only team in the Bundesliga that has beaten Bayern. It could be worse I would say and for now they have not a single reason to complain about anything.
It must have been a while since they have been in this area of the table if I recall that correctly, it is probably a few years ago at least. Their goal difference is decent and not to forget that with 40 points you are safe in the 1. Bundesliga. I assume that Mainz' highest priority when they start a season is to make sure they survive it and don't get relegated, but this looks amazing for them. Unless it is only going South from here, they should not be worried anymore about the relegation ranks.
Xabi Alonso's men has been playing really well in recent times. If you see the last match, they have played like they were the best team in the Bundesliga. Schick has played extra ordinary in that match. He alone scored 5 goals . Die Werkself dominated the whole match, they had 67% possession in this match, 20 shots, and 12 of them were on target. This was a greatly one-sided match and I did not expect this match to be so one-sided. Looking at performances like these I agree with you that they are definitely going to give Bayern Munich a lot of problems. We, or at least I thought that Bayern is going to have an easy time this season. But It seems like this is not right. If Bayern makes any slip-up Leverkusen will be there to take advantage of that. And this alone is going to keep both the teams honest.
Leverkusen is doing amazing recently, looking at their form we could say that they are doing incredible and there is no doubt about that. However, we are not going to really see this changing all that much, because at the end of the day we are going to see something that is changing all that much, since it is not really that complicated to think about neither.. Die Werkself dominated the whole match, they had 67% possession in this match, 20 shots, and 12 of them were on target. This was a greatly one-sided match and I did not expect this match to be so one-sided. Looking at performances like these I agree with you that they are definitely going to give Bayern Munich a lot of problems. We, or at least I thought that Bayern is going to have an easy time this season. But It seems like this is not right. If Bayern makes any slip-up Leverkusen will be there to take advantage of that. And this alone is going to keep both the teams honest.We are going to see how things could change with Leverkusen getting closer, so if Kompany and Bayern does a bit worse, then we are going to end up with Leverkusen getting closer, and in that case things could heat up at the title run. I sure do hope that happens, in a week where Leverkusen loses and Bayern wins, the gap could grow way too much to close after that, right now it is on the verge already, but if we could see Leverkusen win in a week Bayern ties or loses, then things would be a lot better and we would definitely consider this changing for good. I hope that happens so we see some competition and fun.
Of course Leverkusen will still be a threat to Bayern Munich, because after all this team is the team that managed to make them lose the Bundesliga title for the first time after 1 decade they managed to defend it. In addition, Leverkusen also does not have many changes in the line-up and they are still with the same coach who last season led them to become champions in the Bundesliga. That means Leverkusen still has the strength and capital to do the same thing, even though at the beginning they slipped, but it was not a big problem because they were able to return to their proper performance.
Today, even if they are not at the top of the Bundesliga table, they are currently the most inform club in Bundesliga. This is the great achievement and a good motivation to overtake Bayern Munich who is leading them with only 4 points. Meanwhile the season is not far spent, if Bayern Leverkusen can maintain their consistency, they will retain their title this season
Jump to: