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Sunday takeaways

Jefferson ChaseSeptember 21, 2014

Sunday's matches were two very different animals: DW's Jefferson Chase looks at the question of rotation, the excellence of Wolfsburg's peerless left-back Ricardo Rodriguez and Cologne's destructive attitude.

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Wolfsburg vs Leverkusen
Image: Tobias Schwarz/Bongarts/Getty Images

The rotation issue

Stefan Kiessling, Heung-Min Son, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ciro Immobile, Robert Lewandowski, Mario Götze and Xabi Alonso: the one thing these illustrious names have in common is that they started the fourth matchday on the bench.

Leverkusen, Dortmund and Bayern Munich all chose to rotate their squads coming off the back of the first set of Champions League matches and ahead of mid-week Bundesliga games that start on Tuesday - and all three clubs dropped points. Throw Schalke into that list, as well.

Fielding the best possible teams while preventing burnout and injury by not overplaying athletes is a tightrope all coaches have to walk. It's hard to know whether rotation or fatigue played a greater role in Dortmund and Leverkusen's losses and Bayern's draw with lowly Hamburg. But the fact remains that all three teams didn't put their strongest elevens on the pitch and didn't get the job done.

Another strange issue is the tendency of the coach to substitute in stars who have been rotated out, if games aren't going well. Leverkusen introduced Kiessling at the hour mark, while trailing 3-1 and being down to ten-men. Meanwhile, Dortmund brought on Mlhitaryan against Mainz and he's now out for four weeks with an ankle injury - precisely the sort of knock resting him was intended to avoid.

Rodriguez's stock rises again

Wolfsburg vs. Leverkusen
Rodriguez was massive against LeverkusenImage: Getty Images/Afp/Tobias Schwarz

Ricardo Rodriguez is a player that seems to always be linked with a number of top European clubs every transfer window - and not just because he's a left back. The Swiss defender has an excellent pass-completion rate, despite the fact that he gets forward far more often than average.

Rodriguez was man of the match against Leverkusen, not just because he scored two goals - one from a penalty and marvelous volley off a corner. He was the motor that drove the Wolves forward right from the opening whistle, forcing a mistake that led to Leverkusen going down a man. That's the sort of thing that wins games. He even crossed for the second Wolfsburg goal.

Plus he's a nice guy who's been known to offer fans who attend Wolfsburg practices a ride home. It's hard to see Europe's big boys not throwing money Wolfsburg's way in an attrempt to secure Rodriguez's services. He's good enough for the Champions League, and he certainly deserves a taste of the game at the very top.

Cologne don't want to entertain you

Cologne vs. Moenchengladbach
Cologne are positively allergic to conceding goalsImage: Getty Images/Bongarts/Alex Grimm

As a club that has historically yo-yoed between euphoric highs and devastating lows, Cologne have always been good value for money entertainment-wise. No more. Under coach Peter Stöger, the Billy Goats have become masters of the defensive game, having not conceded a single goal in their first four games.

That's an incredible feat for a newly promoted team, but as Sunday's match against Mönchengladbach showed, it makes for some pretty uninspiring football. The Foals had no answer for Cologne's double rows of four defenders, but the Billy Goats on the other hand has no answer to the question of how to get the ball forward into scoring position. They generated only one clear scoring chance in the match and have only two goals this season.

Opponents aren't going to relish playing Cologne, but you have to wonder if Stöger's ultra-defensive approach might not backfire in the end. Mathematically with draws only worth a single point, trying to win matches has to take precedence over trying not to lose them. It's also a lot more fun for us spectators.