Werder Bremen have had a further set back in their bid to take Bundesliga title. Following a 0:2 (0:1) defeat by Hamburg SV, the Green-Whites slip to third place in the table, with a seven point distance between themselves and league leaders Schalke 04, who yesterday drew 2:2 with VfL Wolfsburg.
Trainer Thomas Schaaf made two changes to the side which started in Wednesday’s 3:0 win over Ajax Amsterdam in the UEFA-Cup. For the suspended Pierre Womé and German Under 21 Aaron Hunt, Christian Schulz and Swedish striker Markus Rosenberg took up places in the starting eleven.
Miroslav Klose fired the first warning shot of the day after just two minutes. The German national striker skipped past Bastian Reinhardt in the box and hit a left footed shot towards goal. The striker failed to make a clean connection and HSV keeper Frank Rost had no problem gathering the ball.
Werder dominant but not penetrative
Both sides began courageous and determinedly but an array of misplaced passes and niggly fouls continued to disrupt the flow of the game. Werder had the majority of the play and possession but had great difficulty creating anything solid in front of goal against a willing and aggressive HSV side.
The Green-Whites defence had little trouble dealing with the sporadic attacks from the Hamburg club. It wasn’t until a half hour into proceedings that the visitors launched a serious attack on goal. Atouba broke down the left flank and crossed to Rafael van der Vaart whose effort was charged down and turned away for a corner by Naldo.
Werder were still lacking in penetration. Clemens Fritz put a ball directly onto Miroslav Klose’s head from the right, but the striker appeared shocked to receive the ball and couldn’t convert (37’). Two minutes later, the best chance of the game so far fell to the home side as Hamburg failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Diego twelve yards from goal but the wiry Brazilian’s shot spun well off target.
Van der Vaart on the spot
From out of nothing, in the 41st minute a shock for the hosts. Penalty for HSV. Daniel Jensen slid in just inside the box in an attempt to clear the ball from the feet of David Jarolim but caught the foot of the speedy winger and brought him down. HSV captain stepped up to take the spot kick and placed the ball comfortably into the bottom right corner – 0:1.
The half time statistics showed Werder as having had only four attempts on goal in the first period, their poorest yield so far this season. Thomas Schaaf decided it was time to react and brought Aaron Hunt for Jurica Vranjes to add an extra man to the attack. Werder turned up the pressure on the visitors and for fifteen minutes forced Hamburg well back in their own half.
All smoke, no fire
For all their efforts, Bremen could produce no more that one shot on goal, and effort on the turn from Diego, which subsequently amounted to nothing. The hosts attempts to force the issue going forward seemed half-hearted and unimaginative. There was no way through the centre against a very compact Hamburg side. Out on the flanks their was too few options with Christian Schulz, as well as Clemens Fritz, lacking in precision and assertiveness. On the hour, Thomas Schaaf decided to replace the determined but ineffective Markus Rosenberg with Hugo Almeida to add an extra dimension to the Werder attack.
The personnel change had little effect on the proceedings on the pitch with only two openings for Werder, firstly as Reinhardt almost directed a Frings free-kick into his own goal and then through a Klose header, also from a Frings fee-kick, which flew just wide of the left post (66’). Otherwise the home side looked rather harmless.
Werder’s system of powerfully forcing Hamburg back into their own half became more and more of a struggle as the game wore on and the visitors were able to find more room in which to hit on the break as in the 71st minutes as van der Vaart came close with an amazing turn of skill, and again three minutes later as Sorin’s goal was deemed offside – a questionable decision.
Dubious debut for Niemeyer
It began to look like a mere question of time before the visitors got a second with Werder’s attempts to avoid a third Bundeliga defeat on the trot looking less and less likely. Thomas Schaaf replaced Clemens Fritz with Peter Niemeyer in the 76th minute to give the young defender his first taste of Bundesliga football. And it was a bitter taste for the youngster who will wish to soon forget his first game in the German top flight. A long clearance from Nigel de Jong was aimed towards van der Vaart, who all to easily muscled Niemeyer off the ball, and the Dutch playmaker powered towards goal, past the desperate challenge of Per Mertesacker to slide the ball past Wiese and make the final score 0:2 (87’).
A bitter defeat for Werder who saw Stuttgart overtake them on Friday night and move into second place and now missed the chance to regain the Champions League direct qualification spot. It the battle for the league title the Green-Whites slipped a further point adrift of leaders Schalke and now have a seven point game of catch-up to play.