Oh. My. Goodness.

What else is there to say?

Well, there is a lot to say, to be honest. When die Blauen Blog went into its own Winter Break I was chewing on the idea of the hiring of Michael Frontzeck as manager, as the last time we saw him in the Bundesliga his Allemania Aachen were packing their bags for the 2. Bundesliga after a memorable collapse saw them lose seven of their final eight matches to end the season. Despite this I was bullish on Arminia's chances as I would expect Frontzeck to splash some cash in the Transfer Window to repair the, er, nonexistant back line. Unfortunately, Arminia's transfers went as follows:

In: None

Out: Abdelaziz Ahanfouf (F) to SV Wehen

Granted, Ahanfouf was surplus to demands, but come on, it never came to Frontzeck's mind that perhaps a defender or twenty may help the worst defence in the Bundesliga?

Before I blow a gasket over that, let's move right along. Right before the Winter Break ended Arminia went to Jena to take on 2. Bundesliga Carl Zeiss Jena in a DFB-Pokal clash. The result was of course a 2-1 victory for the little guys in extra time, mainly because the defence coughed up a late goal (ugh) and a goal in extra time. Where have we seen that before? The league returned as Arminia lost 1-0 to Wolfsburg through a display of anemic offence and lost points because of a defencive lapse (Schuler). The same was in store as the Martin Fenin Show showed up and his carving up of the back line enabled the first goal, and he was unmarked for his second goal. At least Artur Wichniarek showed some bottle by putting away a chance to make it 2-1, albeit from an offside position. I'll be fair and state that the second half in the Frankfurt match Arminia came out looking to score, but were unlucky when Sibusiso Zuma's chance went just wide.

And this brings us to today, where Arminia went to eternally-middling Hertha Berlin, which, according to Wichniarek, middles because of their manager Dieter Hoeness. What can I say? I'll take Koenig Artur's word over almost anyone. After all, he was there and rotted for almost four years and not me. Apparently some other blogs digress, but given Hertha Berlin's history, who wouldn't complain about them?

Anyway, the match today started out as boring as Herr Frontzeck wanted, as both sides wandered about the pitch for the first half without much in the way of action. The second half was the same until Raffael put a shot on goal only to be saved by Mathias Hain. The pressure began to build, but the line held and the score remained at 0-0. In the 88th minute, Sibusiso Zuma came off for Tobias Rau in an obvious attempt to hold onto the precious point. I scribbled a note on my notepad "A Striker off for a Defender this late in the match? Why? Unless he wants to lose the game..."

Me and my mouth almost got away with it as in the dying seconds of the match Berlin had a throw-in deep in Arminia territory. The throw went into the box, above all Arminia defenders, and right to Raffael who won the game at the death to take all three points. I'm never one to shout or anything at the TV or computer (Complain? Definitely), but this instance got a "GOTT IN HIMMEL! YOU'RE A BLOODY IDIOT FRONTZECK!" out of me. About the only positive out of the match was that the three in the drop zone below Arminia are equally putrid, so Arminia remain two points clear, but it's far too close for my sake.

Going back to the sacking of Ernst Middendorp, the Germanocentric part of the Soccer-writing Anglosphere (How's that for some fancy wording?) did some writing to say the least. The best was the (always good) The Offside's take on the firing with the requisite comment about the club's love affair with Herr Middendorp (In their league table summary for last weekend, their comment about Bielefeld went to the tune of "At this point, I am starting to believe they only fired Ernst Middendorp so that they could rehire him for the umpteenth time to save them".) The best was from Ernst's old stomping grounds in South Africa where Johannesburg's Business Day tore Middendorp apart in a laughably-sad-but-true piece about the state of the club.

Finally,  World Soccer Daily interviewed Arminia Bielefeld's most famous support, journalist Johannes Berendt in the first hour of Thursday's show. When asked about Bielefeld, his response was that perhaps all of this was a bid to break the record for managers for a club in a single season in the Bundesliga (They've matched last year's total of three already) and finished the discussion with a quite funny comment of "So if you ever lose, you'll have a job in Bielefeld!" and guaranteed a loss against Berlin, leading up to a do-or-die match against Duisburg. Yikes. You can download the podcast off of iTunes by following this link.

I should be back into the swing of blogging things now, but I'm not sure about what. Fun times via Arminia aren't that plentiful here at die Blauen Blog HQ, as I'm having to resort to my PSV fandom to tide me over, which is helpful, though not a true fix. Here's to three points against Duisburg next Saturday!

After Friday's debacle, I waited to post about the match as I knew something had to give after Dortmund took Arminia to the woodshed. An exhilarating start to the season has turned into a complete nightmare, and I knew heads were going to roll. In class this morning the seniors were rather subdued in their football talk, except for the Manchester United bandwagoner, who crowed about United's 4-1 win over Derby County. I ended said crowing by mentioning United were the first club all season to allow an away goal by Derby. Class went on as usual after that, albeit on a more sombre tone.

A dejected Ernst Middendorp during Arminia Bielefeld's 6-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Friday (Image: GettyImages)

I was sitting down for lunch in the cafeteria when the school secretary came up and told me that my mother had called saying that my uncle from Bremen had called and all he said was " 'Allo. Middendorp aus! Tschuss!" and hung up. The secretary thought that this was an important enough emergency ("A family crisis is something that should be handled immediately!" She lectured. If only she knew my uncle was a Werder supporter...) that I called my uncle directly from school, and he gave me the news that Ernst Middendorp had been sacked as manager and Reserves manager Detlef Dammeier would coach the team against VfB Stuttgart, and would search for a permanent manager during the Winter Break.

Ernst, it's enough! says Bielefeld supporters. Apparently, the Arminia board got the message. (Image: Kicker.de)

I tried to make the call sound important enough that no one would think that I was calling Germany during school hours simply because the club I support sacked its manager. It worked, as I was even told that if I needed to I could go home if I needed to travel over there to take care of things. I shrugged them off and said "Eh, things won't get much better if I'm there." Which is true, when you think about it.

When I got home, the Inbox was full of links to the Soccernet, Kicker (link auf Deutsch), der Spiegel (link auf Deutsch) and the Club's official website (link auf Deutsch) articles with what has proven to be the reaction to the sacking: We love Ernst and tank him for all he's done, but we seem to need a change, and unfortunately he had to be the one to go.

Interim manager Detelf Dammeier (Image: der Spiegel)

My initial thoughts on the whole thing? Well, as much as I like Ernst, something had to happen, as Arminia are on the verge of a complete collapse and subsequent relegation. The club has a Bundesliga-worst (-21) goal differential and only a single road win, which was on the season opener at Wolfsburg. As director Reinhard Saftig stated in the press conference, "The facts don't lie - we have only five points from the last 11 matches... I don't even want to start counting up the goals we've allowed."

Despite the doom and gloom, there is a silver lining. If the season ended today (Ah, the wonderful Americanism), Arminia would survive, albeit barely. With a game to go until the Winter Break, the club will have six weeks to find a manager to keep the club afloat, as well as bring in players during the transfer window to reform the back four, who have been the weak link for the club all season, as well as perhaps jump-start the lethargic attack.

I'll keep everyone updated on the situation, as well as try to get some perspective from some local journalists. Of course, if you want to share your thoughts on the matter, E-mail the blog at dieblauenblog@gmail.com with "Ernst Middendorp Sacking" in the Subject Line. Catch you tomorrow for the beginning of your Winter Break entertainment (aside from the manager search, that is...)

In an earlier post, I posted a column by Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger which sang the praises of manager Ernst Middendorp on ESPN Soccernet. Well, the lovefest for the mercurial manager continues on the official Bundesliga website with not just one, but two articles of our Fearless Leader.

Article number one is an article which shows the extent of Bielefeld's turnaround. Among the stats listed (Before Saturday's match against Schalke, of course)...

• Only Bayern München have scored more goals so far this season (12) than Arminia (11, like Dortmund)
  
• Bielefeld have a dangerous duo up front in Eigler/Wichniarek, with seven goals between them. That matches the other top pairings - Bayern's Klose/Toni, Hertha's Pantelic/Okoronkwo and Dortmund's Petric/Klimowicz.
  
• Arminia have committed less fouls (81) than any other side and received the fewest yellow cards (5).
• Seven goals from substitutes. The only coach who can match that over the last 15 games is Bremen's Thomas Schaaf.

Not too shabby if you ask me.

Article number two is an interview with Middendorp where he calls the Bundesliga "a special league," gives credit where credit is due for the remarkable start by Artur Wichniarek and Christian Eigler, as well as discussing the future of the club and its European ambitions. Despite being a short, by-the-numbers interview, it's a very good read.

Now, if we can only get an English interview where he calls a reporter a dolt for asking a dumb question or referring to a match as "not unlike a bad day in a trench in Flanders in 1915." like he's done in the past. Like the recently-departed Special One, an interview with Middendorp is never a dull one.

Bundesliga.de: A Remarkable Turnaround

Bundesliga.de: "The Bundesliga is a Special League"