Last week saw me bemused with the bit of fluff that Luca Toni, and most of the press, considered a news piece. Apparently, LvG dropped trou on the Bayern team bus, back when Toni was still on the squad and Toni chose not to mention it until last week? Huh?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but European locker rooms can't be that much different from American ones- you know, where modesty does not generally apply. I'm sure that's not the first pair that Mr. Toni has seen, nor will it be his last. Bollocks, I say!

Then Friday's Schalke - Dortmund match had me cheering "Auf gehts, Neuer!" as I couldn't bring myself to actually cheer for Schalke. And Neuer delivered, singlehandedly preserving a draw against the Bundesliga leading Schwartzgelben.

Uncharacteristically of me, I chose not to trash-talk ahead of the upcoming Koeln - Bayern fixture. And in the end, my discretion was wise as, unexplicably, Bayern chose to play only 45 minutes of football, instead of the required full 90.

Without ever having to try really hard, the men from Munich went up 2-0 comfortably in the first half with strikes from Mario Gomez and Hamit Altintop. And easily could have gone up 3-0 had the referee seen Mohamad's handball in the box.

So, what happened next is, some will say, "inexplicable", as a 2-0 halftime lead used to guarantee a Bayern win. Used to. Not this campaign, however.

"It has happened before, in Gladbach, Leverkusen, Schalke, Wolfsburg and I don't know where else," said an angry Rummenigge.

Van Gaal noted that perhaps his easy half-time talk was to blame. I'm inclined to believe that his positional changes were. Pranjic should not be playing in the center. And Tymoschuk, is, after all, not a center back. Bastian is better as a holding midfielder, not in the playmaker's role. And poor Holger Badstuber just looked lost the second half.

And yes, missing Robben, and ultimately Kroos, means that Louis van Gaal must fiddle a little. But I'm not alone in saying that he fiddles too much.

Bollocks, I say!

The only bright spots of my Saturday afternoon, after losing to Koeln, were watching Arsenal crumble to Newcastle, after being 4 goals up, and then getting to watch Manchester United lose to the Wolves. I have many friends who are among the legions of Gunners and Red Devils supporters. If I can't be happy, I was happy that they couldn't either.

After dropping to 5th place in the Bundesliga, instead of moving up to 2nd, I thought at least I had a little something to look forward to as there was the mid-week not-so-friendly Germany-Italy fixture....

And after a car accident, and a combination ear / sinus infection had me ensconced on my couch, I was sorely disappointed again. Although it was a more lively match than you'd expect out of a "friendly", and Miro's goal had me grinning, I was ultimately left disappointed with a 1-1 draw.

Bollocks, I say!

I slept on my couch Friday night, as to utilize every possible moment of sleep, and wake up at 9:25 AM, just in time for the Bayern - Hoffenheim match. I was curious to see Bastian back in the 6 spot, since Ribery and Robben were (finally!) both available. And curious to see what kind of fire was lit in the belly of the Bavarians after last Saturday's craptastic defeat.

I wasn't disappointed as Mario Gomez opened up the scoring only two minutes in after a superbly-timed short cross in by man-of-the-match, Arjen Robben. Super Mario now leads all Bundesliga players with 17 goals this season. Thomas Mueller added a second on 15 minutes, beating on-loan David Alaba after a Ribery pass.

Content on with a two goal lead, Bayern then allowed Hoffenheim to retain almost equal possesion, just as long as they weren't really getting anywhere forward. And although we saw the same thing last week against Koeln, the end results were drastically different due to the personnel on the field.

With Robben and Ribery on the wings, and Bastian Schweinsteiger back in holding midfield, the pressure on Bayern's back four (Lahm, Badstuber, Tymoschuk, Gustavo) was lessened considerably. And while I'm not wholly convinced that Danjiel Pranjic should be partnered with Bastian in holding midfield, he did win his fair share of tackles.

The restart saw lucky Hoffenheim sub Josip Simunic crack Robben in the face, blood streaming from the Dutchman's nose. I say "lucky" for he was only given a yellow card. And I think all Bayern fans, as well as myself, sighed in relief as Robben retook the field after receiving medical attention.

"Bollocks!" I said then, as no red card was given, but in hindsight Simunic did die Roten a huge favor as Robben became a man possessed. His first goal, on 63 minutes, saw him skipping blithely through 5 Hoffenheim defenders, delaying his shot to perfection, getting Hoffenheim goal-keeper Starke wrong-footed.

And his second goal to complete the brace would have been talk-of-the-town had Wayne Rooney not scored his bicycle kick against Manchester City earlier that day. Franck Ribery dribbled to the top of the box and crossed perfectly to Robben, rushing the opposite side. Arjen deftly whipped a stunning curler in to the top left corner that looked like it was going nowhere near the goal. Perfect. My Red Devils friends would later remark that he did that same thing against them last season...

The icing on the cake happened later that afternoon as Dortmund only managed a point against Kaiserslautern. So, where does that leave us? Currently in 3rd position, 12 points behind Dortmund and 3 behind Leverkusen. Upcoming matches away at Mainz (who are the only team to beat us at home this season) and the first leg away of the Champions League Round of 16 to Inter Milan.

Now, I'm not ready to say we're back quite yet. The next two matches will bear that out. But for now, I'm not shouting "Bollocks!" anymore. Only smiling.

You can follow Susie on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/fussballsusie

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