#3 Schalke, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg have a lot of work to do
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Prior to the start of the season, quite a few believed that it'll be a close contest between Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig for those European places. Schalke and Wolfsburg, on the other hand, were expected to compete for the Europa League places.
Often termed as perennial bottlers, Schalke got off to a horrendous start and lost their first five league games. After the arrival of Christian Heidel as the Sporting Director and Markus Weinzierl as the head coach, the club were expected to move forward following years of underachievement despite have a good academy and financial resources.
Yet, Weinzierl's side struggled to find the right balance and loitered around mid-table for most of the season. They seem to do good business in the summer but fail to get off to a good start. Plenty to ponder for Die Konigsblauen in the off season.
Like Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen too had a horrible league campaign and failed to replicate their impressive showings in Europe. Roger Schmidt's side lacked any sort of defensive understanding and despite scoring a decent number of goals, they conceded 55 which is just two fewer than relegated Ingolstadt.
Schmidt's frequent touchline altercations ultimately was his own coffin as he was sacked and replaced by Tayfun Korkut. Despite the change, things failed to take a positive turn.
The worst story of the lot is undoubtedly that of Wolfsburg. Cup winners and title challengers a couple of seasons ago, the Wolves had a good enough team with the likes of Julian Draxler, Jakub Baszczykowski, Mario Gomez and Daniel Didavi. But the team lacked cohesiveness and were beaten week in week out.
The side averaged just a goal a game and were beaten by Hamburg on the final day which means they'll now face Eintracht Braunschweig in the relegation playoffs.
There have been other clubs, Borussia Monchengladbach, for instance, who have failed miserably this season. The Bundesliga is unpredictable, but the aforementioned clubs, with their resources and squads, should all be in the top half of the table.
