STUTTGART, Germany (AP) _ Energie Cottbus lost its last game and dropped to the bottom of the Bundesliga, then fired the coach. Now comes a trip to Bayern Munich.
Maybe best to head straight for the Oktoberfest.
Even in the best of times, there was not much for Cottbus to hope from a trip to the Bavarian capital. In four games against Bayern, the club has four defeats, with only two goals scored and 13 conceded.
That record could significantly worsen in Wednesday's game at the Allianz Arena.
After two straight draws, Bayern got back on the winning track Sunday and came away with an impressive 4-1 win at Karlsruhe. It didn't create many chances, but it struck with clinical efficiency. It has the best attack in the league after six rounds with 16 goals, four more than the next best, Schalke.
``We gave up four points in the previous two games and we were under pressure,'' Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. ``We must now take three points again, that's clear to everyone, but it's going to be hard work again.''
Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose, Bayern's newly signed pair of strikers, have nine goals between them, with Klose leading the league with five.
``Toni is phenomenal,'' Hitzfeld said of his striker, who won the World Cup with Italy on German soil last year. ``He's got great class.''
Toni scored only four minutes into Sunday's game, controlling the ball with one foot, then sliding it over the goalkeeper with the other.
``In reality, we still haven't seen much from Toni,'' Bayern's general manager Uli Hoeness said. ``When he is fit, he can score three or four goals in a game.''
Toni has been struggling with a hamstring injury and often gets substituted in the second half.
Klose has settled well in Bayern after a poor season at Werder Bremen and his not very smooth departure.
Cottbus is the only team still without a win, with only two points.
Following an unfortunate 2-1 loss at home to Wolfsburg despite attacking most of the game, coach Petrik Sander was fired and his assistant Thomas Hossmann quit Monday. If no new coach is found by Wednesday, Heiko Weber, the coach of the reserves, will guide the team in Munich.
With the win in Karlsruhe, Bayern restored a two-point lead and now has 14 points. But there are some new followers _ Hertha Berlin is now second at 12, with Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt at 11.
Hertha plays Tuesday against next-to-last Hansa Rostock, Leverkusen travels to Nuremberg on Wednesday and Eintracht is home to Karlsruhe, also Wednesday.
In other games Tuesday, it's Borussia Dortmund versus Hamburger SV, Wolfsburg versus Werder Bremen and Duisburg versus Schalke.
On Wednesday, Stuttgart hosts Bochum and Arminia Bielefeld meets Hannover 96.
Hertha was predicted by many to be heading for the battle against relegation after a rocky start. But the team under new coach Lucien Favre has bounced back, winning its last three.
Striker Marko Pantelic has rediscovered his touch and has four goals.
The team is ready to take risks and play an offensive game and the team spirit has improved.
``Every player now has the willingness to work for the team,'' general manager Dieter Hoeness said. ``In the past, there were some who thought they knew everything and could do anything.''
Even when the team falls behind, as it did Saturday against Borussia Dortmund, it has the strength to come back, which was not always the case in the past. Hertha beat Dortmund 3-2.
One of the goals came from 20-year-old Nigerian Solomon Okoronkwo, who has three goals coming off the bench.
