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Bundesliga Focus - Werder finally halt the slide
Saturday 13 February 2010
When you've lost five successive matches, old cliches about taking a win from anywhere suddenly take up an unlikely resonance.
So Werder Bremen will have welcomed their home encounter with rock-bottom Hertha Berlin and seen a chance to arrest their lemming-like plunge down the table. That four of their five previous games had been lost by a solitary goal will have been scant consolation. Since marmalizing Freiburg 6-0 in November, Thomas Schaaf had seen his team go from fringe contenders for the title to one for whom Europa League qualification is now a more realistic aim. The eventual 2-1 win achieved against Hertha ensured that this revised aspiration remained very much alive. With the game marking Werder's 111 anniversary, there was sentimental as well as practical motivation for getting a much-needed result. After a lively opening, it was the hosts who began to dominate territory. Their superior on-field quality was prising openings, but the collective self-doubt induced by their dismal run was preventing them from cashing in. Claudio Pizarro and Jaroslav Drobny became engaged in a personal dual, with the Czech goalkeeper foiling the Peruvian early on and winning a similar battle with Aaron Hunt. When Pizarro hit the post with a header that would normally have registered, it served as an ominous sign that their luck was out.
Fortunately, Hertha's three-match unbeaten run had included two goalless draws, and while they had a semblance of organisation in defence, their lack of any substantial threat going forward was in keeping with their record. A tight offside call denied Gekas, but a half-time lead for Hertha would have been terribly unjust. The second half appeared to be going much the same way until a moment of sublime quality broke the deadlock on 65 minutes. Mesut Ozil's shot was charged down and it fell to Marco Marin, whose volley went across and past Drobny. It was as good a finish as it was surprising, totally out of character with the end product from both teams up to that point. However, the prospect of an impending end to the nightmare run seemed to consume Werder with panic. Over a minute later, a routine ball into the box produced an excuse for a punch from Tim Wiesse. Theofanis Gekas obviously thought it rude to decline the gift, his first time strike threatening to give Hertha an unjust share of the spoils. Ultimately, Pizarro was to have the final word in his joust with Drobny, controlling the ball in the box and producing a instinctive turn and shot with his left foot across the keeper with nine minutes to play. Clearly his spurning of easier opportunities was a result of having too much time to think.
One would hope Werder can now put the anguish of the last month behind them and push on to secure European football next term. Friedhelm Funkel has a tough task in order to keep Hertha in the top-flight. His team has certainly looked more organised in recent weeks, so it is possible they will be able to pick up points from those immediately above them. However, their lack of creativity and guile in the final third suggests any miraculous escape is going to be built on a sequence of goalless draws and tight one-nil victories. On current form, you would have to bet against them. Footballing fairy tales are part of what keeps so many engaged with the game. Wolfsburg's toils this season have shown us the other side of that coin, namely that such stories are usually a temporary blip in the monopoly the wealthier clubs have on honours and silverware. Bayern were destroyed 5-1 last season as Die Wolfe surged to their unlikely Bundesliga title. That they felt they could leave Franck Ribery on the bench as they sought revenge was a key indicator of how far the balance of power had shifted. That they went on to win 3-1, introducing one of their key performers when already in control, merely served to emphasise the point. In truth, this was over as a contest when Arjen Robben slid home neatly after two minutes following good work on the left by Thomas Muller.
Daniel van Buyten's free header for the second had the feel of the training ground to it as the home defence appeared to be there for ornamental value. Such was the lack of co-ordination, Bayern appeared to be toying with them, like a fighter who knows he can knock out an inferior opponent at any time. After Robben cracked the post, Andrea Barzagli did his utmost to deprive Ribery of a simple tap-in. He succeded, but registered an own goal in the process. As Bayern took their foot off the gas, Grafite served as a microcosm of his team's season, encapsulating earlier wastefulness by seeing a tame penalty saved by Jorg Butt, who to be fair was off his line well before the kick was taken. What hurt was not the fact that he missed, but the inkling one had that he was going to. Without the Felix Magath effect, Wolfsburg, while still not a bad side, look like mere mortals again. That Grafite managed a consolation in stoppage time did nothing to disguise this. Bayern are now fourteen unbeaten and the powerhouse of German football would be many people's favourites to be on top in May.
Dortmund's Bundesliga challenge now hangs by a thread after a second successive loss. A 12-minute defensive collapse had turned a positive result at Stuttgart into a 1-4 loss and they were unable to shake this fragility against visiting Eintracht Frankfurt. One knew something was awry when Patrick Ochs managed to raid unchallenged down the right, and his delicious delivery found Benjamin Kohler, the recipient of some equally generous marking. Mats Hummels' reply and Lucas Barrios' effort early in the second half may have sparked celebration from the Westfalenstadion faithful, but the neutral tempered this with the knowledge that Eintracht always looked dangerous when they attacked. Part of their defensive frailties may be down to a lack of faith in stand-in keeper Mark Ziegler. His indecisive response to a corner enabled Sebastian Jung to hit a deflected equaliser, before a knife-through butter raid past a square home defence enabled Alexander Maier to flick the ball over an advancing Ziegler. The predictable siege that followed produced nothing tangible and in truth, Frankfurt were good value for their win. This weekend sees them travel to Olympicstadion to face Bayern and one would imagine defeat there would equate to lights out.
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