I agree on both the need for a keeper and the worry over Podolski. This game was dreadful for him. I have never been more certain that Rensing doesn’t deserve the number 1 spot unchallenged.

“The big man goes down, doesn’t touch the ball, doesn’t touch the player and gets a foul against him… unbelievable.”

That had me rolling laughing for 5 minutes. Just watching his youtube videos cracks me up.

On the match: Phew, huge phew, phhhheeewwwww.

Don’t get why everyone is on Sosa. I thought he looked good. Definitely one of the best 5 players on the pitch that day. Schweini is on a roll lately except for his finishing. Seems like he’s turned a corner. Lucio has been better of late as well. It is sad though that he is by far our best central defender. Hard to win a CL or even Bundesliga when that is the case.

I think we may need to make a move for a keeper in the off-season. Rensing is average. I’d place him middle of the pack amongst Bundesliga keepers.

How scary is Podolski as our only fit striker after that game? Youch. That play with the Karlruhe keeper where he shied away instead of going in was pathetic. Have some heart man.

The Barca tie is exciting. I hope we can hang with them and can get healthy in time. And my god that Wolfsburg game is going to be awesome to watch. I can’t wait!

Then what should stop them from continuing to win with smoke and mirrors for the rest of the season?

Sosa had his best half in the first half. Hopefully his goal will get him going, because he has not shown anything in awhile…

As someone who has defended him in the past, I must say Podolski was DREADFUL today. He looked like he was really going to try to finish his Bayern career with some style the past few games, but took a HUGE leap backward this week. He played like he was already in Koln this week, and some empty shell took his place. We really need him to play well to have any shot awith Barcelona.

Rensing made more huge mistakes today, luckily against a team that can’t buy a goal right now. This was his first clean sheet at home this year but hardly deserved.

I 100% agree with Luke… Wolfsburg is really now our prime oppostion to the titel. Hertha has been winning with smoke and mirrors all year long, and I can’t see them sustaining it for the rest of the season, and Hoffenheim’s chances ended when Ibesivic went down with the knee injury before the second half of the season started. The fact he was leading the Bundesliga in goals until this week, despite not having played in a game since the winter break shows what his value was to that team. I also give Hamburg a shot, but their goal differential puts them at a huge disadvantage to Bayern and Wolfsburg. No other Bundesliga team really merits any mention as their chances are extremely remote at best.

Bayern took a huge leap backwards today, as they have played better in some of their losses. They really need to realize that even the bottom feeders can beat them when they give such weak efforts as they did today. We really need to hope this is an aberration. Maybe they were not comfortable playing with only one up front, especially when that one puts for such an incredulously poor performance. It speaks volumes when the coach decides he is more comfortable with a defender up front. The sad fact though is we need Poldi now. We need the Poldi who plays for the german national team. We need the Poldi who has shown up the 3 weeks prior to today.

If Bayern puts forth this kind of effort in Barcelona, they will make Sporting’s games vs Bayern look like close ones. Give Messi and henri the chances Karlsruhe got and they will all end in the back of the net. Miller is a fine goaltender, but come on…

Ze Roberto and Lucio seemed to be the only players who showed up for the full 90 minutes today. I really expect that Ze will get a contract extension before Wolfsburg. Let’s hope the Bayern team that played Sporting shows up in Wolfsburg in 2 weeks, it is by far the most important Bundesliga game of the last 2 years.

I’m going to give Sosa a lot of slack. As I’ve commented before, the fact that he delivered the match-tying cross at Getafe is enough to do that. The 4-5-1 is relatively unfamiliar for everyone, let alone a guy who has been collecting dust for the last few months. How much hype did we hear about Donovan and his scoring prowess, and yet he never managed a goal? Sosa’s doing fine for what he is, and I for one will not cringe the way I did when Ali Karimi would come on when Sosa is in the lineup.

Concerning to me is that I think that was a 5th yellow for Demichelis. I don’t think too many of us would have plotted out the match on April 4th at Wolfsburg as a key determiner of the title, but right now, it sure looks like one. I’ve got a lot of respect for what Hertha and Hoffenheim have accomplished, but I don’t think either of them are going to be vying for the top spot in the end. Wolfsburg and Hamburg are much more serious title contenders, and with Wolfsburg unbeaten at home in the Bundesliga this season, and a very familiar sense of what Felix Magath brings to the table, it will be a very tough and important match indeed. Hopefully we don’t come out of the qualifiers with a whole new set of injury concerns, but right now I’m optimistic the team is turning the corner and ready to go on a long run of wins, right in the same spot they did in the first half of the season.