Clash Of The Middle Men : Diego And Munteanu

First Team
Friday, 03.11.2006 / 12:47

Not many pundits would have expected the 04.11.2006 match between Energie Cottbus and Werder bremen would be a top of the table clash. The ninth match day of the season pitches the league leaders from Bremen against the club in sixth spot. The east German side have so far notched up 14 points and are currently the omst successful newly promoted team.

Not many pundits would have expected the 04.11.2006 match between Energie Cottbus and Werder Bremen would be a top of the table clash. The ninth match day of the season pitches the league leaders from Bremen against the club in sixth spot. The east German side have so far notched up 14 points and are currently the most successful newly promoted team.

 

“They are in a position in the table that they’ve seldom experienced. We can expect a very confident opponent”, explained trainer Thomas Schaaf considering the task ahead. Cottbus will come to the Weser brimming with confidence with wins in Aachen (2:1) and in Bochum (1:0) under their belts. Last weekends 2:0 home win against Hertha BSC Berlin will have done nothing to cause Cottbus any need to fear. Previously FSV Mainz made their way home from Cottbus on the back of the same result.

 

The difficulty for the league leaders lies in the fact that they now face a side who have traditionally done well at the Weser Stadium. Schaaf confirmed: “We’ve always had problems against Cottbus, they’ve made life difficult for us at home too.” Thomas Schaaf can remember the last meeting of the two at the Weser Stadium back on 22.02.2003, which finished in a 1:0 loss for the home side. The record against Energie is not so good on the whole with three wins and three draws on the cards.

 

Under coach Petrik Sander, the visitors will do all in their power to turn the tides fully in their favour. The trainer has a complete squad available to him with Cottbus having avoided any serious injuries so far. Only Sebastian Schuppan has been unable to play a Bundesliga game thus far since his knee operation. “The team have achieved their goals through compact performances and technical ability. With Kioyo they have a very robust man up forward who is often supported by three offensive midfielders. They are stable at the back and compensate with two defensive middle men”, analysed Schaaf respectively.

 

Schaaf summed up: “We must approach the game against Energie with the same attitude as we have in our recent matches.” The massive expectations of the Werder fans must not be allowed to effect the players though. “We have to deal with that. We have put ourselves in that position. After 15 goals in the last three games the fans are of course expecting another goal festival. All we can do is remind them that those kind of score lines are not always possible and continue to work on.” The Werder team are ready to do all in their ability to continue their run of success. “We know we are not unbeatable. We have a lot to do to keep ourselves in the position we’ve managed to get into”, explained the coach who has a lot more personnel problems than his opposite number. Definitely not available on Saturday will be Mohamed Zidan , Daniel Jensen (both groin), Patrick Owomoyela (ankle) and Tim Borowski (knee). The availability of both Christian Schulz and Ivan Klasnic is also doubtful with the pair suffering from bad colds. Even Torsten Frings is feeling some muscle problems but Schaaf is remaining optimistic: “Torsten is a tough nut, he’ll be back at it by tomorrow.”

 

One important figure who is fit is the newly crowned ‘Player of the Month’ for October Diego. The Brazilians availability will mean the clash of the two top scorers in the Bundesliga. Diego (5 goals) and Vlad Munteanu (5 goals) fill the score charts along with three others but can take charge with a goal on Saturday. Hat would also have been an unexpected situation prior to the seasons begin.

 

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