Maybe the players are not ready yet, maybe the coaches need a bit more time to get to know their teams, but still, the time is up, and Bundesliga starts on Friday, with an old rivalry match between Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern. The Bavarians are still favorites to clinch the tenth consecutive Bundesliga title, while the likes of Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund will (again) try to catch them. A bunch of clubs will be battling for the 2-7 spots, and for the others, it will be between 8th and 18th place.Biggest transfers this season have occurred only in the Premier League, and Bundesliga has been pretty boring in that regard. Germans have been (as usual), very modest about their finances, since the Covid-19 pandemic eat all of their money. Erling Haaland stays in the league for another year, Robert Lewandowski as well, but Jadon Sancho finally went to Manchester United, as Germany’s most interesting transfer this summer.The #Bundesliga is back! 🙌❤️Drop a GIF to describe your MD1 energy 👇 pic.twitter.com/CYtkjSiiH3— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) August 13, 2021 Also, it is very important to address the head coach episode. During, or at the end of last season, no less than seven (out of the top eight clubs) coaches changed their clubs. Bayern, both Borussia’s, Wolfsburg, Leipzig, Frankfurt and Bayer all made ‘the change’ and it will definitely be a factor during the upcoming campaign. Some of them have a last chance to prove something, some of them got to a bigger club and will feel a bigger pressure, so look out for these clubs to see how good will they be in the first rounds of Bundesliga.The ContendersWhen a certain team (in this case Bayern) wins the league nine consecutive time, that team has to be the contender for the upcoming season. And the Bavarians did nothing wrong to be dethroned from their spot as favorites. In fact, when respectable German Kicker asked all 18 Bundesliga coaches who will be the next champion, only Cologne coach said it will be Borussia Dortmund, while Marco Rose didn’t named his favorite, while other 16 coaches said – Bayern Munich.The Bavarians have a new coach, the brightest young German tactician, Julian Nagelsmann and they have kept almost all of their team leaders, with the goal machine Robert Lewandowski leading the line. There is no reason to believe that they can be dethroned, right? Well…The Benders go from Bundesliga to cleaning dressing rooms and playing for their village in the ninth divisionA new coach still needs time to make chemistry with the players, as Bayern didn’t win in any of his four pre-season games (for the first time ever), but the season starts today. Also, due to Covid-19 pandemic, and the following financial consequences, Bayern only bought Dayot Upamecano from RB Leipzig, while Omar Richards came for free from the second league Reading. They might buy Leipzig’s Marcel Shabnizer, and that’s it for the champions. They also lost two very important players in defense, David Alaba (Bayern) and Jerome Boateng (still a free agent), so nobody knows who will be the new leader in the back four.Bayern’s biggest concern is the depth of the squad. What happens if Lewandowski is injured again? What if Goretzka or Kimmich (or both) are injured? The former Bayern legend Lotthar Matthaus thinks that Borussia Monchengladbach, with whom Bayern plays the first game on Friday, is better equipped than Bayern.OK, but what about other contenders? Borussia Dortmund is the first on the list even thou they finished in the third place (barely) and also sold Jadon Sancho? Well, they bought a good replacement (Donnel Mallen from PSV), but the most important thing: they have a proper coach (Marko Rose) and Haaland is back for another year! The Millionaires were true to their word and didn’t let Haaland go this season, which makes them a legitimate candidate for the title. But, their problems lay in defense (as Bayern’s) where they have problems with injuries and actually don’t have a good mix of youth and experience. Apart from that, the key will be to win against “mid table” teams like Mainz, Augsburg, Freiburg, which they didn’t manage last season. And it would be nice if the captain Marco Reus could be a bit more healthier this season…📈 A record social media season👀 15 billion interactions👍 700 million likes👥 15 million new followers🎬 Viral clips on YouTube & TikTokWe’re looking forward to the new season with you! 👊#MiaSanMia #packmas— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) August 13, 2021 RB Leipzig also has a new coach to blend in with the players, but they have at least bought a bunch of players (seven in total), all to fit a certain purpose, so Leipzig (again) has a compact squad with enough players on each position. Unlike last season, they now have a proper striker, a proven goal scorer in the likes of Andre Silva, who managed to bang in 28 goals in 32 Bundesliga games for Frankfurt. American Jessie Marsh, who came from sister club in Austria, Red Bull Salzburg, wants to change the formation and switch to four man defense and it remains to be seen how it will all look like. Bundesliga is a lot stronger and Austrian championship so the biggest concern over Leipzig will be how will their coach fit in. As long as he is not outside the top 4 (which means Champions League), owners will be satisfied. And this is where the story ends for the contenders, really.Dark horses and European hopefulsThis is a bigger group, with teams who either have Champions League ambition, or have already been in it and want to come back or the ones who might come as an unexpected contender. Borussia Monchengladbah, Wolfsburg, Frankfurt and Bayer are in this group, but according to last season’s results at least, Union Berlin should be in this category. Also, their city rivals Hertha Berlin invested heavily and would like to be in this ‘mid to upper table’ group, instead of relegation strugglers like in 2020.Bayern’s sporting director: Of course we are thinking about HaalandBorussia and Wolfsburg have the most compact squads of them all, meaning they have the most (if not all) players back for another season. Borussia has a slightly worse schedule at the beginning (Bayern, Bayer, Union) and it could be tricky for the Foals, while Wolfsburg has a much unexperienced coach in Marc van Bommel, so it will be difficult for both clubs. Bayer had a good transfer window so far and could end as a strong Champions League contender, while Frankfurt had too many player and personnel changes to really push for the fourth spot.Newcomers and relegation battleWell, newcomers are all in relegation battle really. Bochum and Greuther Furth will surely be in fear until the very end, and Cologne wants to avoid last season’s play-out with the third placed Bundesliga 2 team. In reality, Augsburg, Meinz and Arminia haven’t done enough this summer to be calm for the upcoming season, and they will be in the relegation mix come May 2022. But, if you look at Bundesliga giants who were relegated last season (Schalke and Bremen), one can never safely say that there won’t be a surprise (or two) in 2022.BUNDESLIGA ROUND 1Friday21:30 Borussia M’gladbach – Bayern MunchenSaturday16:30 Union Berlin – Bayer Leverkusen16:30 Wolfsburg – Bochum16:30 Augsburg – Hoffenheim16:30 Stuttgart – Greuther Furth16:30 Arminia Bielefeld – Freiburg19:30 Borussia Dortmund – Eintracht FrankfurtSunday16:30 Mainz – RB Leipzig18:30 FC Koln – Hertha
