Hello and welcome to my prediction for the Bundesliga Player of the Month November! The 2022/23 Bundesliga campaign so far is kind of surprising in terms of who is leading the table, who is struggling and we surely will see it with the nominees. For example Bayern Munich who haven't won a single Bundesliga game in September and thus I didn't expect to see a player from them being nominated. It surely was an interesting month of football in the German top-flight and it will be exciting to see if Union can keep their form and if Bayern will recover but for now, go on and see who I think could be a nominee for the September POTM!
CB: Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund) - 84 OVR -> 87 OVR:
2 clean sheets / 3 games - 2 wins - 1 loss
Borussia Dortmund is probably the most minimalistic and at the same time successful team this season so far if you look at their results. Last years football was entertaining in attack but they conceded a lot of goals which was something the new head coach Terzic had to change and actually did. They already have more clean sheet after 7 matchdays than they had last season in the first half of the season if I remember correctly and one of the players who, surprisingly I have to admit, is a big reason for their defensive stability is Mats Hummels. He hasn't contributed a goal in September but defensively he is probably the best defender so far this season and made sure Dortmund took all three points against Hoffenheim and more important, won the Revierderby against arch-rivals Schalke 04. Not a card people would use if he'll win so he could end up being SBC fodder.
CM: Kerem Demirbay (Bayer Leverkusen) - 81 OVR -> 86 OVR:
3 goals / 3 games - 2 draws - 1 loss
When we talk about teams who are surprisingly at the top of the table we also have to talk about Bayer Leverkusen on the other side of the standings which might seem weird considering we're talking about Player of the Month. Leverkusen had a horrible start to the 2022/23 season, including a first-round exit against Elversberg in the German Cup but it seems like they're very slowly finding their form. They played out two draws in September after they lost against Freiburg where Kerim Demirbay found the back of the net in all of the games. It looks weird to include a player who hasn't won a single game but from a individual perspective it's reasonable and it wouldn't be a bad card for the start of the game plus he's easy to link.
CAM: Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt) - 83 OVR -> 86 OVR:
2 goals & 1 assist / 3 games - 2 wins - 1 loss
Only one of two midfielders I predict to be a nominee comes from Eintracht Frankfurt who just recently celebrated their first-ever win in the UEFA Champions League at Marseille. Frankurt had a pretty good September in the Bundesliga, opening the month with a convincing 4-0 win at home against RB Leipzig but then lost 0-1 at home to Wolfsburg. They went back on winning ways then with their UCL win just to end September with a 3-1 win away at Stuttgart. The Japanese midfielder Daichi Kamada was one of the few who stood out, scoring and assisting against Stuttgart after he scored once against Leipzig. The position isn't 100% clear for me because he played LM & CAM in the two games they've won but his recent inform makes this card look pretty good tbh!
GK: Rafa Gikiewicz (FC Augsburg) - 81 OVR -> 86 OVR:
2 clean sheets / 3 games - 2 wins - 1 loss
The german top-flight always had a good amount of really good goalkeepers and one of them is Augsburgs Gikiewicz. His side might not make the headlines every week but they're are one of the teams who could show up for a surprise win against a big side. That was what happened in September when they shocked the defending champion FC Bayern and took all three points with a narrow 1-0 victory which was thanks to Gikiewicz who made a couple of insane saves. He also was incredible in their win away against Werder Bremen and was the main reason for both clean sheets and more important, the wins. A goalkeeper POTM winner is very rare and even if he would pick up the award I didn't expect to see him in squads a lot.
GK: Mark Flekken (SC Freiburg) - 80 OVR -> 85 OVR:
2 clean sheets / 3 games - 1 win - 2 draws
I said it earlier that this years Bundesliga campaign has some surprises in it's bag and beside Union Berlin, Freiburg is another surprise team at the moment, sitting third in the table. Even though it wasn't their best month with two goalless draws they could still end up being rewarded with a nominee for the September POTM in the name of Dutch international Mark Flekken. The 26-year-old shot-stopper might have conceded twice in Freiburgs 3-2 victory against Leverkusen but still made some crucial saves to deny Leverkusen another goal. He also kept the clean sheet against high-flying Hoffenheim and Gladbach.
ST: Sheraldo Becker (Union Berlin) - 76 OVR -> 84 OVR:
2 goals & 1 assist / 3 games - 2 wins - 1 loss
Union Berlin surprisingly leads the table after 7 matchdays, two points ahead of Borussia Dortmund and the collective spirit that has been seen for years in the stands has manifest itself on the pitch. Still though, there's the dynamic duo in attack that have made a barnstorming start to the campaign with Sheraldo Becker and Jordan. Becker tops the charts for goals on six league efforts in seven apperances after he scored twice and added an assist to his tally in September. If he once again gets nominated and picks up the award, we could get the POTM card in-game we should have gotten for August.
Disclaimer: EA released a Pitch Notes Article yesterday where they mentioned they'll look to increase the size of the potential OVR increase select Player of the Month Items are able to receive. The Updates you see here are based on the old upgrade system so they could be different!
That concludes the September Bundesliga Player of the Month predictions! What do you make of these predictions? Is there anyone else who should have made the selection? Let us know below!