Dour Bayern cling to top spot

Bayern Munich's striker Miroslav Klose eyes the ball during their 17th day Bundesliga football match against Hertha Berlin at the Olympic stadium in Berlin. (AFP/DDP)

Bayern Munich will stay top of the Bundesliga for Christmas only by virtue of a superior goal difference over Werder Bremen after they were held to a 0-0 draw at Hertha Berlin on Saturday. While second-placed Bremen were busy destroying Bayer Leverkusen 5-2, Bayern gave their travelling fans little to cheer about as they picked up their second consecutive 0-0 draw in freezing temperatures in the German capital.

"We had planned for and really wanted to get three points, so that we could stand alone at the top of the table," said coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.

"That did not happen for us, unfortunately. Nevertheless we go into the winter break as leaders.

"After the press reports of the past week, you would have thought we are in the bottom three of the table.

"To be league leaders over Christmas is a great achievement for the players and will help motivate them to do well next year."But Hitzfeld's comments did little to divert attention away from what are troubling times for Bayern after a week of worrying headlines.

Captain Oliver Kahn was suspended for the Hertha game and heavily fined after criticising team-mates Luca Toni and Franck Ribery for inconsistent performances in the wake of last weekend's goalless draw with struggling Duisburg.

After their spectacular start to the season, when they hammered rivals Bremen 4-0 on the second weekend, Bayern are mere shadows of their former confident selves having won just two of their last seven league games.

And, according to reports in the German press on Friday, a replacement for Hitzfeld, out of contract next June, is already being sought for next season.

With in-form striker Toni out with a thigh injury, it was down to Miroslav Klose to be the lone forward supported by converted striker Lukas Podolski and Ribery in the midfield.But ever since they were hammered 3-1 at defending champions VfB Stuttgart on November 10, Bayern have struggled to break down their opponents and this was another lacklustre performance.

Bayern's best chance fell to Klose on 75 minutes, but he just stabbed his shot wide.

The visitors failed to impress even though they are crowned autumn champions as the league breaks for winter to resume on February 1.

In Bremen, Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic - making just his third league appearance since recovering from a kidney transplant operation at the start of the year - was the hero for Werder.

He opened the scoring against Leverkusen with a well-taken strike on 30 minutes before adding his second and Bremen's fourth just after the hour mark.

Bremen's Brazilian midfielder Diego scored to became the league's joint top-scorer with nine goals, while German international Clemens Fritz and Markus Rosenborg also scored in the comfortable 5-2 win.On Friday, Energie Cottbus lifted themselves from the bottom of the table and up to 16th with a stunning 5-1 win over high-fliers Hanover.

Hamburg stay in third place, but are now four points adrift of the top two after they drew 1-1 at Karlsruhe, who are now sixth.

Schalke 04 held onto their half-time lead over Nuremberg for a 2-1 win to move up to fifth.

VfL Wolfsburg are tenth after they blitzed Borussia Dortmund 4-0.

And Stuttgart were reduced to nine men as they were beaten 2-0 at Arminia Bielefeld as they had Mexican midfielder Pavel Pardo and compatriot Ricardo Osorio sent off in a bad-tempered second half.

The result was impressive for the home side who saw coach Ernst Middendorp sacked on Monday and former German international Michael Frontzeck was named as his replacement on Saturday.

On Sunday, strugglers Hansa Rostock and VfL Bochum will slug it out, while bottom side Duisburg take on Eintracht Frankfurt.

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