Slow Off the Mark

The Bundesliga table, with Bremen, Bayern and Schalke at the top, may look normal, but don't be deceived. The trio of leaders are all on 13 points -- which would have left them tied for fifth in the standings at this point last season. The Bundesliga's giants have failed thus far to live up to their lofty expectations.

Mighty Bayern have already lost to Bielefeld and Wolfsburg, Bremen's potent attack has looked scattershot, and Hamburg, another pre-season favorite, are in the relegation zone, having not won a competitive match since August.

Before the start of the current campaign, Bayern coach Felix Magath predicted his team would suffer from World Cup fatigue. But is this summer's global football festival really to blame for mediocrity at the top?

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Of the contenders, Bayern and Bremen have the most World Cup veterans. Magath, for instance, was forced to run some pre-season practices with only five players, while the rest recovered from the tournament.

Robert Mucha, an editor at the soccer magazine 11 Freunde, said a certain mental tiredness is understandable. "For two years players were obsessed with the World Cup. Then all of a sudden the pressure is gone, and with it their concentration."

Jürgen Schmieder from the online edition of Munich's Süddeutsche Zeitung agreed: "It's difficult to adjust, both physically and mentally."

But Reiner Holzschuh, editor-in-chief of Germany's leading soccer publication, Kicker, said the World Cup was no excuse: "At the very latest, any fatigue has to be over after the fourth week of the season. In the past few years, we've seen that German clubs haven't been very competitive internationally."

Markus Hesselmann, chief sports editor for Berlin's daily Tagesspiegel newspaper, concurred. "Look at the other European leagues," he pointed out. "Chelsea and Barcelona are playing fine."

Hesselmann said he thought World Cup fatigue was a specifically German phenomenon. "Everyone was worried about it," he observed, "and at some point it became a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Questions of leadership

Personnel changes, more than fatigue, seemed to have tripped up the big clubs coming out of the blocks. Soccer experts agree that Bayern underestimated the effect Michael Ballack's departure to Chelsea would have on the club.

"Ballack was their captain and the man who controlled matches," Holzschuh said. "They've had to revise their system." Hesselmann seconded that thought: "They miss his strength in the air."

Bremen have had similar trouble adjusting to the loss of former playmaker Johann Micoud. But the most drastic problems have been in Hamburg -- last season's third-place finishers have plummeted all the way to 17th in the table.

Hamburg gave into players' wishes in the off-season and sold off their two starting interior defenders. But Jürgen Schmieder said the departure of 34-year-old striker Sergei Barbarez, a long-time fan favorite whom Hamburg refused to re-sign, may have been more of a blow.

"It's not just a matter of playing ability," Schmieder commented. "It's a question of leadership."

Like a pimply teenager

Holzschuh said the problems in Hamburg went beyond any one player. "Ever since last winter, Hamburg's transfer policies have been ripping apart the team's chemistry," he said, citing jealousy between Hamburg's veterans and their more recent signings. A major reason for Hamburg's struggles this year has been a rash of red cards -- a lack of discipline which Holzschuh said shows that "the players aren't mentally in control."

And what's true of Hamburg also applies to Schalke. The Bundesliga's perennial also-rans have no reason for World Cup fatigue and didn't lose any key players. But they've been hit by squabbling, most notably a public spat between veteran Gerald Asamoah and new signing Halil Altintop.

Matti Lieske, sports editor for the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, blamed management. "I have the feeling that problems got carried over from last season. Schalke's management seems incapable of taming this team."

Schmieder offered a more picturesque analysis: "Schalke is like a pimply teenager who finally succeeds in getting a date with the prom queen -- only to wreck the car on the way."

The season could come down to the question of how quickly the top teams get players and coaches on the same page and end the current spell of mediocrity.

But parity does have one advantage. Unlike last season, no one looks likely to run away with the title -- which should make things more exciting for the majority of Bundesliga fans.