Opinion: Bundesliga sinks in Bayern's wake

Fourteen wins, three draws and only four goals conceded: Bayern's record at the end of the first half of the season is enough for 45 points and an untouchable lead at the top of the Bundesliga, a league they continue to dominate.

It seems that Bayern can play as poorly as they like and still leave the field as winners. Even then the term "poorly" is relative. Most of the league's other teams yearn to play anywhere near the level of a "poorly performing" Bayern.

This first half of the season has once again shown us that football is a very mental game. While Bayern always know they are good enough to score a goal even when nothing is going their way, their opponents seem to step onto the pitch with the belief that the game is already lost as soon as Bayern take the lead, if not before.

There have been games where Bayern were kept at bay, but then the moment Pep Guardiola's side did score the opposition fell apart and ended up losing heavily. In other games, opponents looked completely shattered after an hour of keeping Bayern to a 0-0 scoreline.

Competition all third class

Adding to Bayern's quality is the group of German sides vying for the Champions League - all of whom possess spectacular weaknesses. Wolfsburg are the only side not to be in this group. The Wolves have collected 34 points in the first half of the season, a club-record haul that has turned a few heads outside of Germany too. Nevertheless, Germany's current second-best team is 11 points behind Bayern. Six points clear of second though leaves them in "second class."

Behind them are the "third class" clubs, who all face a tense battle for third - the league's last direct Champions League qualifying spot. All of these sides however have dropped points unnecessarily at various times in the first 17 games of the season, leaving Bayern and even Wolfsburg untroubled. I'm thinking here of Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Schalke 04.

Leverkusen impressed with their pressing at the start of the season, leaving some experts tipping them as Bayern's number one chasers. Then followed a number of games where they failed to score the deciding goal, despite numerous opportunities.

Gladbach continue to show how well they've learned Lucien Favre's system but all too often they fail to convert 1-0 leads into three points. The same could be said for Schalke. Although the Gelsenkirchen club needed a while to adjust after Jens Keller was replaced by Roberto Di Matteo, the Italian's defensive tactics haven't stopped Schalke's defense from gifting goals to inferior opposition.

Are Bayern Munich really 17, 18 points better than the likes of Leverkusen, Gladbach and Schalke? It certainly seems so at the moment. What is for sure though is that Leverkusen, Gladbach and Schalke are definitely 17, 18 points worse than Bayern.