Final Pythagorean for 2009-2010 German Bundesliga

Categories: Soccer Pythagorean: Tables

Here is the final Pythagorean table for this season's German Bundesliga:

Team GP GF GA Pts Pythag +/-
Bayern Munich 34 72 31 70 71 -1
Schalke 04 34 53 31 65 61 +4
Werder Bremen 34 71 40 61 65 -4
Bayer Leverkusen 34 65 38 59 63 -4
Borussia Dortmund 34 54 42 57 54 +3
Stuttgart 34 51 41 55 53 +2
Hamburg 34 56 41 52 56 -4
Wolfsburg 34 64 58 50 51 -1
Mainz 34 36 42 47 42 +5
Eintracht Frankfurt 34 47 54 46 43 +3
Hoffenheim 34 44 42 42 48 -6
Mönchengladbach 34 43 60 39 37 +2
Köln 34 33 42 38 39 -1
Freiburg 34 35 59 35 32 +3
Hannover 96 34 43 67 33 34 -1
Nuremberg 34 32 58 31 30 +1
Bochum 34 33 64 28 28 0
Hertha BSC 34 34 56 24 32 -8

What I find interesting about the Pythagorean estimation in this case is that Bayern performed almost exactly in line with their statistical expectations.  They won the title going away, and Schalke's overachievement actually prevented Bayern from clinching the title sooner.  Felix Magath did a fine coaching job with Schalke this year.

Bremen had a similar goal scoring record to FC Bayern, but their goal defense was much worse, which meant that their expected point total dropped way off.  Their defense probably caused them to lose some matches they should have either won or at least left with a point.

The rest of the table had performances in line with their expectations.  Mainz had a better season than perhaps expected; Hoffenheim's record was a little worse.  The big underachiever by a very wide margin was Hertha Berlin.  A club of that scale should not have that poor of a season, and if they had played in line with expectations they might have stayed up.  It just goes to show that no club is too big to go down.

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