Five things we've learned from the Bundesliga this season

All the latest on the 49th season of the Bundesliga, with German football expert Ross Dunbar

Borussia Dortmund are on course to be one of Europe's best sides

Die Borussen's second consecutive championship success is certainly no fluke. The Ruhr club have been in scintillating form this season, backed by an incredible 82,000-strong support at every home match at Signal Iduna Park.

When it came to the crunch, Dortmund were able to dig out the results when it mattered. Against top-four opposition, Klopp's men dropped just two points and beat FC Bayern home and away this season.

Shinji Kagawa's ruckrunde form could be rewarded with a stunning move to Manchester United but Dortmund have already been shopping wisely with a ￡14m deal to bring Marco Reus to the Westfalen. Reus has been in top-form this season for Borussia Mönchengladbach and is an ideal replacement for Kagawa – or another terrific option in Dortmund's attacking line.

And financially, Borussia are ready to compete with the superpowers of European Football. In the last financial year, they broke the ￡100m revenue barrier and will be boosted by the ￡300m increase to next season's Sky Deutschland TV deal.

The Bundesliga is a terrific market for EPL clubs to shop in

Just ask Newcastle United.

Papiss Demba Cisse has been ramming goals in for the last 18 months at SC Freiburg under Robin Dutt. The Senegalese striker scored 13 goals in 12 games and could be set to fire Newcastle to a Champions League place after joining the club in January.

His strike partner Demba Ba is another former Bundesliga star having hit 37 goals in four seasons at Hoffenheim before joining West Ham in 2010.

And another Bundesliga hot-shot will be heading to England this summer with Cologne's Lukas Podolski joining Arsenal for around ￡10m. The German international is leaving the relegated side at a perfect time after hitting 18 goals this season for The Billy Goats.

Auf wiedersehen: Cologne's striker Lukas Podolski who is leaving for Arsenal

 Chelsea have also added Marko Marin for ￡8m from Werder Bremen and talks is still on-going which could bring Kagawa to Old Trafford.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is the best 'out-and-out' striker in Europe

I should emphasise the term 'out-and-out' striker, meaning a proper centre-forward. Not a Messi/Ronaldo-esque attacking player.

The 48 goals in 48 games he has plundered this season is a quite remarkable record for the Dutch striker who has set the Bundesliga on fire with a stunning partnership with Spanish legend Raul. In his last three league games, he hit five goals, including a double in Saturday's 3-2 win over SV Werder Bremen.

The 28-year-old endured some difficult spells in Spain and Italy, but has found a new lease of life in Gelsenkirchen since his ￡14m move from AC Milan. Huntelaar will be an invaluable asset to Schalke next season in their attempt to win the Bundesliga for the first time.

Sharp shooter: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with the Bundesliga's top scorer award

Huntelaar's finishing is devastatingly good but his all-round game makes him a very impressive player. His first touch is excellent and ability to bring others into play has been so important to Schalke's 4-2-3-1 formation under Huub Stevens.

You can't win anything with kids!

Don't sell your experienced players and expect to do well with a team of youths. The 'Frank Arnesen Project' at Hamburg got underway last summer with the former Chelsea Director of Football deciding to off-load the likes of Frank Rost, Ze Roberto, Joris Mathijsen and Ruud Van Nistelrooy – a combined total of over 100 international caps.

Instead, the side was filled mainly with younger players who had little, if any, Bundesliga experience prior to their opening day thrashing by Dortmund. Arnesen brought Michael Mancienne, Jacopo Sala, Gokhan Tore and Jeffrey Bruma from Stamford Bridge for a total fee of around ￡3.5m.

And Michael Oenning's tenure lasted just six weeks with only point from their opening six games of the season. Rodolfo Cardoso had a 50% win ratio from two matches, before Arnesen took charge for one match at Freiburg. It was a chaotic start to the season at the Volkspark with HSV spending some time in the relegation zone.

But in fairness, Thorsten Fink has done an excellent job since arriving in October and despite a rough patch in the early ruckrunde, Hamburg steered clear of relegation last weekend. Next season, with a number of a new additions coming in the door, HSV might be aiming more towards Europe than going down.

Sacking your head coach early is sometimes a good idea

You'd be hard pushed to find anyone who thought SC Freiburg would have avoided relegation in January.
It seemed as though planning was underway for 2.Bundesliga with Marcus Sorg sacked and Papiss Demba Cisse sold for ￡10m. Youth coach Christian Streich took charge and promoted a few younger players to the first-team.

And 24 points in the second half of the campaign proved to be easily enough to keep them in the division.
Streich's side have played some excellent football and shown their ability to play more defensively – with a 0-0 draw and a 2-1 against FC Bayern and Schalke respectively.

Over at Hoffenheim, Holger Stanislawski was shown the exit door in the first-half of the season with Markus Babbel eventually becoming the club's permanent head coach. TSG 1899 went under the radar for most of the second half of the campaign but had been in a fight for European football up until last week.

After five defeats on the spin, Robin Dutt 'parted company' with Leverkusen and under Sami Hyppia and Sascha Lewandowski, they have managed to secure fifth place and a place in next season's Europa League.
And of course, Hamburg SV, who chucked Michael Oenning after one point in their first six matches which saw them bottom of the table.

But the same can't be said for Hertha who sacked two coaches this season and are in a relegation play-off with the third-placed 2.Bundesliga side – likely Fortuna Dusseldorf.




source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/opinion/football-opinion/ross-dunbars-bundesliga-blog-dortmund-822363