Bundesliga half-time report: Five things we have learnt so far

Raffael and M. Kruse revive the dying art of strike partnerships

The high-intensity of the German football, doesn’t lend itself, to two up top, in fact, not many teams, prefer starting with two out and out forwards. Perhaps, that is the reason why, when the English League has had so many prolific strike partnerships, the Bundesliga pales in comparison. And whilst it is true that only in 2008/09 that Grafite and Edin Džeko, became the most prolific strike partnership in Bundesliga history, scoring 54 goals, they were the exception that proved the norm.

This year, there might just be another exception on our hands. And whilst they might not challenge the Wolfsburg duo for their title anytime soon, that still doesn’t take anything away from their achievements so far. Raffael and M. Kruse have formed a lethal striker partnership that has accounted for 17 of Gladbach’s 35 League goals this season. That coupled with their 9 assists so far means that they have played a direct hand in almost 75% of the goals scored by Borussia M.Gladbach and have been one of the main reasons for the club’s meteoric rise, which sees them in third place, above Dortmund heading into the break. If the duo, keep up their form, there is no reason why Gladbach can’t get into the Champions League at the end of the season.