A Night To Forget - Werder Lose 2:1 In Paderborn

First Team
Wednesday, 25.07.2007 / 12:35

New striker Boubacar Sanogo made his debut in the Green-White on Tuesday night but it was to prove a night to forget for Werder Bremen in Paderborn. In a friendly against the second division side Thomas Schaaf’s men were beaten 1:2 (1:1).

New striker Boubacar Sanogo made his debut in the Green-White on Tuesday night but it was to prove a night to forget for Werder Bremen in Paderborn. In a friendly against the second division side Thomas Schaaf’s men were beaten 1:2 (1:1). Sanogo, who was presented as a Werder player on Tuesday afternoon, gave his new side the lead after 19 minutes but the Bundesliga side failed to build on their lead and found themselves back on level terms when Timo Röttger equalised for SC before the break. In the 54th minute, Nebojsa Krupnikovic gave the home side the lead from the penalty spot and the Black-and-Blues held on to win 2:1 in front of 4,126 spectators at the Hermann-Löns-Stadion.

 

Werder make three changes

 

Compared to the side which started in the League Cup against Bayern Munich, Thomas Schaaf made three changes to his first eleven. Christian Vander and Carlos Aberto replaced the injured Tim Wiese (back problem) and Leon Andreasen (calf strain). In addition, Boubacar Sanogo made his debut for his new club in place of Kevin Schindler. Paderborn had a very determined eleven starting the game containing a number of players with Bundesliga experience and with ten minutes on the clock they got their first sight of goal but Christian Vander was equal to Timo Röttger’s 15 meter drive.

 

Werder had their first clear opening on the quarter hour as Tim Borowski got on the end of a long pass forward but instead of shooting he attempted to feed Markus Rosenberg but had his pass blocked and the chance was lost. From the interception, Paderborn launched an attack and were unlucky not to take the lead as Röttgers effort just missed the mark. Considering the flow of the game, Werder’s 19th minute lead came as something of a surprise and it was one worth seeing (available on WERDER.TV from Wednesday). Veteran goalkeeper Alexander Bade attempted to throw the ball deep into the midfield but somehow managed to launch it just a few meters. With the SCP side pushed forward, the ball fell to the feet of Boubacar Sanogo who accepted the gift and coolly lobbed the stranded keeper – 1:0 for Werder.

 

Best phase, bitter end

 

The Green-Whites were inspired and began their best phase of the game, creating a couple of very good openings. The best of them: Vranjes was sent on his way down the right and squared the ball to Rosenberg who hammered a shot goal wards which more struck the keeper than did the keeper make a save (26’). The best phase of the game ended in a horror scene for the Green-Whites. Torsten Frings took on a throw-in and turned – and then was forced to kick the ball back out of play to allow the physio to treat his knee. To the applause of the crowd Frings came back on but not for long. The midfield engine had to be substituted with the nightmare of a torn cruciate ligament hanging over him. Frings returned to Bremen immediately with press-director Timo Polster.

 

To add insult to injury, Werder couldn’t hang on to their lead. The visitors lost the ball and on a quick break and SCP took the opportunity to equalise with a Röttger shot into the far corner – 1:1(41’). “Paderborn were active and got the ball forward well”, analysed Werder coach Thomas Schaaf after the game and continued: “They took their chances well.” That was to continue after the break but firstly there was a strong period from the Green-Whites. The coach made three changes during the break and his side created openings through Schindler and Artmann. From another stray Schindler effort, Sanogo slid in and hit the far post with his shot. Werder’s power play ended with them going a goal behind. Schüssler broke into the penalty area in a spring duel with Peter Niemeyer and was then brought down by the defender. A penalty was the understandable decision and Krupnikovic slotted the spot kick neatly into the bottom left corner (54’).

 

Critism from Schaaf and Allofs

 

Werder had nothing more to offer than a wasted cross by Harnik (67’) and a misplaced free-kick from Vranjes which sailed high over the bar (79’). Tired, abulic and with a plethora of individual mistakes Werder created more chances for their opponents than themselves which were luckily, for Schaaf’s men, not taken. Vander got to show what he can do, making a strong save from Röttger yet again. Another positive point for the Bundesliga side was the debut performance of Sanogo who impressed until his substitution in the 58th minute.

 

There was little else for Schaaf and his team of staff to be happy about in their sixth friendly game and fourth defeat in a row. “We were physically not in good form and mentally not quick enough We were totally harmless and naive in our tackling. We have been working hard and it was clear to see that we weren’t fresh. We’ll have to get through this now.”

 

Tim Borowski summed the match up saying “We had no bite”, and team manager Klaus Allofs agreed: “We’re not playing well at the moment and there was no disputing that tonight. That’s not acceptable and we’ll have to discuss that in the coming days. It’s been a rocky pre-season prearation because we find ourselves every morning counting the numbers of players who can still play and the result is players playing in unchartered territory. That doesn’t excuse this performance though. That was disasterous, there was no will, no determination or ambition. He defeat is not a tragedy but the way we lost was. You can only play football when you have fun doing it, that was not the case here. That’s not enough to meet the demands of the club and the players themselves.”

 

With two and a half weeks to go before the Bundesliga gets underway, Allofs is not about to begin stressing himself: “We are not going to panic, we need to talk about things”. Werder’s next chance to improve their position is on Friday, 27.07.2007 at 6pm against FSV Mainz 05.

 

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