Three things we learnt from Bundesliga Matchday 11 – Lennart Karl shines, Deniz Undav is back to his best and Borussia Mönchengladbach continue to improve

The Bundesliga returned after the international break with Mainz and Hoffenheim drawing 1-1. Most importantly, Dominik Kohr’s sending off meant he became the player with the most sendings off in the league’s history. 

Saturday afternoon provided a wealth of high-quality fixtures with Borussia Dortmund hosting VfB Stuttgart, Bayern Munich vs Freiburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach travelling to Heidenheim, Augsburg facing Hamburg and Wolfsburg facing Bayer Leverkusen. 

Lennart Karl is quite good:

There has been a lot of talk about Karl due to the flashes he has shown in the early stages of his Bayern Munich career, whilst during the international break, he even scored against Malta. 

Today, Karl showed how special a player he is.

Within 20 minutes, Bayern were 2-0 down to Freiburg after conceding from two corners (they play Arsenal on Wednesday), and Karl, alongside (and mainly) Michael Olise, managed to haul the Bundesliga leaders back into the game with the duo trading goals and assists to make it 2-2 just before half-time. 

The Frenchman provided two more assists and scored his second of the game to lead Bayern to a 6-2 victory over the Breisgau Brazilians (they played a lot like Brazil in 2014). 

Back to Karl, the 17-year-old has two goals and two assists in nine Bundesliga games, and is having a bigger impact on the team than his predecessor in the number 42 shirt had when he first broke into the team. 

Upon Jamal Musiala’s return, it will be interesting to see how Karl can continue to be given sufficient game time as Bayern look to fight on three fronts alongside Olise and Luis Diaz.

Deniz Undav is back to his best:

Undav was left out of the previous Germany squad (he had only just come back from injury), but his performances since his return from injury have shown that he is back to his best. 

Stuttgart looked like they were down and out, first when Borussia Dortmund took a 2-0 lead, but Undav’s double seemed to have rescued a point for the Swabians, until Stuttgart looked out for a second time when Karim Adeyemi scored in the 89th minute in what looked like the winner, but the Stuttgart striker would step up and cooly slot away to make it 3-3 in the 91st minute. 

Since the 29-year-old returned from his injury, he has scored seven goals in eight games in all competitions.

With the absence of Ermedin Demirovic, Stuttgart have needed a striker to step up and Undav has done just that. It also helps that alongside him you have one of the signings of the season in Bilal El Khannouss and the rejuvenated Germany players in Maximilian Mittelstädt (who had another good performance) and Chris Führich off the bench.

Julian Nagelsmann may have a headache come May for selecting his Germany squad.

Borussia Mönchengladbach’s revival continues:

Gladbach have gone from not winning a game until November, to winning three games in a row in the Bundesliga and having the longest win streak in the league (three games).

Earlier this week, Eugen Polanski was appointed as their new permanent head coach, and it is a testament to the work he has done in turning this team around from a laughing stock to one of the Bundesliga’s form teams. 

The win today means this is the first time since 2017 that Gladbach have won four competitive games in a row. 

Haris Tabakovic continues to look like one of the best strikers in the Bundesliga, and everything looks on the up. 

Gladbach’s next big test will be next Friday against RB Leipzig. 

Elsewhere around the Bundesliga:

• Bayer Leverkusen had to call upon Mark Flekken, who made nine saves (via FotMob) as they beat Wolfsburg 3-1. 
• Augsburg won their game since the beginning of October after beating Hamburg 1-0.