Soccer season

So is it just between Bayern and Dortmund, or can someone else challenge for the title?

Jefferson Chase: Bayern always win the even years so pencil them in tops. But I think Dortmund will show us that last season was no fluke and could spring another surprise. That goes especially if Bayern end up going far in the Champions League and the Bundesliga becomes less of a priority for them. On paper, Bayer Leverkusen should be third, but if their keepers come through, Schalke or Stuttgart could be back in the top three.

Matt Hermann: It looks to me like Dortmund have shaken off the loss of Nuri Sahin well, and they’re probably the only club who can give Bayern a run for their money. Outside of them, Schalke's young squad (younger than even Dortmund's this year) has a lot of quality and is best positioned to challenge for third.

Ben Knight: I think Dortmund will win it again, even without Sahin. Jürgen Klopp has got his side well-drilled, and Bayern are going to need to incorporate new signings and start with yet another coach. Jupp Heynckes is no fool, obviously, but there's a reason he gets passed around every other season and his glory days are well behind him. As for outsiders, I like Hanover. I don't think they'll win it, but they're well-prepared and look like they have a reliable squad and a settled game plan.

Who's going to disappoint us this time round?

MH: I just can't see Leverkusen doing as well this year as they did last. Midfielder Arturo Vidal (sold to Juventus) was their most influential player by some stretch, and going without injured goalkeeper Rene Adler for upwards of two months to start the season may be enough to send the club down a course toward mid-table. Plus the inevitable coming chapter in the Michael Ballack saga, in which he loses his place in the Leverkusen side and moans about it to his allies in the tabloid press, might be damaging.

BK: I agree that Leverkusen are going to struggle. Robin Dutt faces a real challenge to meet the fans' expectations - he did a great job getting little Freiburg into the top half, but it's a whole different ball-game in the Rhineland, where the supporters and media won't be patient if things go wrong early on.

Which teams could be this season's surprise package?

JC: Things seem to be coming together for Gladbach. They were the seventh best team in the second half of last season, and I love the hell out of Reus. If everything breaks their way, and I do mean everything, Hertha Berlin could turn a few heads.

MH: Yes, Hertha coach Markus Babbel says the club has no goal other than to stay up in the top flight this year, and it's probably a good move to keep things modest. Still, I can't help but think that goal will be easily met. The team's back line is no great shakes, but in all other areas they look at least as solid as most other Bundesliga sides - and their front four could be downright ferocious. Hertha are nobody's candidate for a European place, but should stay well clear of the drop.

BK: What about Cologne? They've got a brilliant new coach in Stale Solbakken, who seems to have even the leading players like Lukas Podolski well in his grip already. It took nerve - and not a little chutzpah - to take the captaincy off the club's icon before the season began, so it looks like he knows how to command a dressing room. And they looked very slick in last week's cup-tie.

Is there a breakout player we should be looking out for?

MH: Not that you’ve never heard of him, but if Mario Götze continues on the same developmental curve he's been on, this year he'll establish himself as the league's best player, bar none. In preseason he looks to have added some bulk and sinew last season’s boyish frame, and is generating goal-scoring chances at an alarming rate. Barring injury, he will be a star for Germany at Euro 2012, and plying his trade at the likes of Manchester United or Barcelona next season.

BK: I think his teammate, Ilkay Gündogan, looks brilliant too. He moved to Dortmund from Nuremberg over the summer where he could be an ideal replacement for Nuri Sahin in midfield. He's quick and young and he can only develop now that he's in a great team under a great coach. Plus he made it into the senior national team squad for the first time against Brazil, so we know Jogi Löw has his eye on him.

JC: Watch out for Nicolai Mueller or Zoltan Stieber - both standouts from last season in the second division who will love playing for Thomas Tuchel at Mainz.

Who's going down?

BK: So many different teams could. The bottom six or seven places are basically interchangeable in such a volatile league. But Augsburg will do extremely well to stay up, and in the pre-season Kaiserslautern already looked shorn of confidence. I think Freiburg are going to struggle now that Dutt has gone.

MH: Augsburg, who did too little to strengthen their squad in the offseason are way out of their depth; Nuremberg, who lost a lot of quality in the final third; Freiburg, whose ordinariness will be exposed if Papiss Demba Cisse ever gets hurt or sees a slump.

JC: Augsburg and Hertha need to play hard from day one, of course. The other teams that I think will struggle are those who've lost quality i.e. Lautern, Nuremberg, Werder Bremen and Hamburg. Can either Bremen or Hamburg actually go down? Hard to imagine, but the chemistry at both is lousy. Freiburg and Cologne are always decent bets to flirt with the bottom. And Hoffenheim are treading water - always a dangerous thing to do in a league as fluid as the Bundesliga.

Compiled: Ben Knight
Editor: Matt Hermann