A brutal Bremen performance. On the back of the bitter Champions League exit in Turin, Werder suffered a humiliating 0:3 home defeat at the hands of Hertha BSC Berlin. The result was not undeserved with Werder capsizing in the second half whilst Hertha left many chances unused. Currently Werder remain in second place but could find themselves back in fourth by Sunday evening should HSV (against Kaiserslautern) and Schalke (against Frankfurt) both do their duty.
Again Werder were without their captain who tore knee ligaments and was replaced by Daniel Jensen. Torsten Frings fill the 'Baumi-Position' as captain in front of the back four with Jensen takin the half-left position in the centre. With only three minutes played, signs that this wasn't going to be a Green-White became noticable. A loss of possession in the midfield allowed Berlin to break on the counter. Pantelic picked out Marcelinho with a perfect pass but the Brazilian somehow managed to hit the post with an empty goal begging at his mercy and Schulz could clear the rebound.
Active opening
Werder took somewhat longer to put their first effective attack together. Daniel Jensen freed Ivan Klasnic with a long ball on the left, The Croatian crossed to where Tim Borowski took the ball on the volley but blasted way over the bar (8'). Jensen himself had a go from 18 meters two minutes later but he really should have been picking out the better placed Miroslav Klose.
The home side were looking positive moving forward during this period but left holes at the back in doing so. Arne Friedrich played in Pantelic in the box who turned Frank Fahrenhorst inside-out only to find his master in Tim Weise (12'). The same situation occured again minutes later with goalkeeper Tim Weise saving Fahrenhorst's blushes. The keeper was in the thick of things again in the 18th minute when he crashed into Marcelinho but referee Dr. Fleisher waved away the penalty appeals much to Werders relief.
Thomas Schaaf's men clearly had problems and looked increasingly weary as the game went on. Berlin, who have themselves been in serious crisis, attacked early and frustrated Bremen's attempts to string together some passes and forcing the hosts into continual passing errors. Only a shot from distance by Torsten Frings made the Hertha keeper Fiedler work but the BSC goalie could gather at the second attempt. With a half hor played, the game lost out in both tempo and quality on both sides. To add to Werder's problems, playmaker Johan Micoud was forced to throw in the towel with muscular problems and was replaced by Jurica Vranjes (40').
Second half, Werder idea-, harm- and planless
Those who were thinking that the second 45 minutes could only get better were about to be extremely disappointed. Miroslav Klose did get the ball in the net with a header after Ivan Klasnic cracked a shot against the crossbar but the German internationals effort was rightly ruled out for offside (46'). Four minutes later, Jurica Vranjes flashed a shot just over the Berlin crossbar but that was to be the end of the Werder push.
Instead the guests took the lead. Boateng beat Tim Weise to a Marcelinho free-kick and headed the visitors 0:1 ahead (53'). The home side lost their nerve having gone behind and the mistakes began to pile up. The defence remained insecure, the midfield apparently headless and the leagues most dangerous strike force a shadow of their former selves. A Vranjes header from a Tim Borowski free-kick which brought the best from Friedler was the only real chance for the home team in the second period (58').
Werder were surely happy to see how often Hertha were caught offside and failed to use their counter attacks effectively. Gilberto could have made the points secure in the 61st minute after a pass from the impressive Bastürk. The Hertha lead never really appeared in danger though even after the introduction of a third striker, Nelson Valdez for Patrick Owomoyela.
Werder appeared increasingly stunned by the level of their performance and a 0:2 was seemingly only a matter of time. Tim Weise was able to deny both Bastürk and Pantelic in the 74th minute but two minutes later the keeper was helpless when a sleepy Werder midfield lost the possession yet again and the keeper was suddenly facing three Hertha strikers one of which, Marcelinho who slid the ball over the line. Bastürk took on a long pass from Fathi and put the nails in the coffin of Werder Bremens worst performance of the season and a 0:3 home defeat to accept at the end of a bitter week for Thomas Schaaf's men.
Johnnie Muldoon
Werder Bremen – Hertha BSC Berlin 0:3 (0:0)
Werder Bremen: Wiese - Owomoyela (63. Valdez), Fahrenhorst, Naldo, Schulz - Frings - D. Jensen (82. Andreasen), Borowski - Micoud (40. Vranjes) - Klose, Klasnic; auf der Bank: Vander, Lagerblom, Pasanen, van Damme
Hertha BSC: Fiedler - Friedrich, van Burik, Fathi - Chahed - Boateng, Schröder, Gilberto - Bastürk (90. Cairo) - Marcelinho (84. Neuendorf), Pantelic (77. Sverkos)
Goals: 0:1 Boateng (53.), 0:2 Marcelinho (76.), 0:3 Bastürk (83.)
Referee: Dr. Helmut Fleischer (Sigmertshausen)
Attendance Weser-Stadion: 37.728 Zuschauer
Yellow cards: Frings, Borowski - Bastürk, Friedrich, Schröder, Sverkos
Shots on goal: 17 : 10
Corners: 4 : 1
Crosses: 16 : 2
Possession: 56% : 44%
Tackles won: 45% : 55%
Fouls: 23 : 20
Offsides: 2 : 13
Most shots on goal: Borowski (4) – Pantelic (3)
Most assists: Klasnic (4) – Fathi, Pantelic (2)
Most individual possession: Frings (94) – Gilberto (80)
Strongest tackler: Klose (71%) – Chahed (71%)