Bayern Munich 2 - 5 Werder Bremen
By: Angela | September 20th, 2008Thank God for Tim Borowski. That’s all I can say right now. What started out as a promising game turned into a very disappointing, shameful performance. Franck Ribery and Miroslav Klose were both out for today’s match. Ribery was scheduled to make a come back, but during training his muscles went tight and they decided it best to give him a little rest so he doesn’t further injure himself. Miro picked up an injury during the Champion’s League game mid week.
The first half started off pretty evenly paced. Both teams were pushing forward and presenting an attacking style that made this match very interesting to watch. Even though Werder were without four of their regular players, they still pulled together well and it was evident from the start that they weren’t going to make this an easy task for Bayern. Midfield looked good for Bayern. Defense, however looked a little weak. Demichelis ha made several crucial mistakes, completely out of character for him. The little article on the FCB Site about Demichelis being ‘hot for Pizza’ made me think, while watching that game, that possibly he just can’t defend Pizarro.
Baumann was pretty forceful throughout the first half, which resulted in a yellow and a talking to from the ref. I think the talking to should’ve been a second yellow and even the announcers said it was worthy a second booking, but the ref was pretty lenient today. Bremen walked away from the half with a two point lead over Bayern.
Baumann - yellow - 16′
Demichelis - yellow - 26′
Rosenburg - goal - 29′
Naldo - goal - 44′
Second Half changes brought on Borowski for Lell and Oddo for van Buyten. I was surprised by the van Buyten change because for all the screw ups from Demichelis and his inability to cover Piazzaro in the first half, it should’ve been him. And I know there will be tons of arguments about this and everyone will think it’s just my flag waving DVB loving supporting heart, but seriously, he was better than Demichelis today. I would like to thank the camera crew from a strictly girl point of view on the gratuitous Oddo shirt changing shot. 
Which actually turned out to be the highlight of the game for me because the second half performance by Bayern was just embarrassing. Maybe they shouldn’t have made those half-time changes so quickly. Baumann was taken off in lieu of Hunt, which was probably to save him from getting a second booking. Podolski had a great start. He was all over the place and was giving a strong show, but in classic Podolski fashion, the second half rendered him completely invisible and this is why he doesn’t deserve a regular starting position. He lacks consistently. Sometimes he plays well, sometimes he plays like he could care less if he got any game time. Until he plays consistently like he wants to be in the starting line, then he doesn’t deserve to be there.
I keep waiting to see what Oddo is capable of, but have yet to witness it. He does, however, provide great, spot on crosses. If not for Borowski, this would’ve been a 5-0 thrashing by Bremen. Granted, Toni should’ve scored probably three times and Podolski should’ve scored once, but they didn’t so that left it all up to Boro. I was greatly disappointed in the change of play between the first half and the second half. Bayern were a mess in the second half and Bremen deserved to walk away with the win. I’m getting more and more uncertain of Rensing’s ability to be a consistent number one. No one will ever be Oli Kahn, but he needs to be better than he was today.
Anyways, that’s about all I have to say on today’s performance.
Ozil - goal - 54′
Pizarro - goal - 59′
Rosenburg - goal - 67′
Borowski - goal - 71′
Vranjes - yellow - 82′
Borowski - goal - 85′
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Well, all I can add to your commentary is that the backline for Bayern was terrible. One thing I have noticed in all their games is that most of the Bayern defenders are rather slow and the only one with speed, Lamm is so far upfield that they are very susceptible to counter attacks. They need to find a fix for this because most of the goals they have given up have come on counter attacks or set pieces where the defenders simply haven’t been able to get to the balls.
Rensing made a few huge errors, though it’s hard to put too much on him. This game was a complete failure for the entire team. They actually had more chances than Werder, but couldn’t finish.
Anyway, if their issues on the counters is not settled, I can see many teams trying this exact same formula against Bayern. Let’s hope that something can be done to close this major hole before Lyon this week.
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Roger: I agree completely. They definitely have to fix the gap made by the defenders. The whole second half was a complete mess for Bayern.
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Whoa, Rensing is doing fine, he just needs help from a defense that isn’t always trying to score goals. I like the threat that they pose, but damn it’s like they are on their heels for the counter.
Oddo had a few moments, he showed that he can attack well and does have a spot on cross. Notice whose number he took? (Still pissed) He’s going to fit right in once he gets comfortable
Borowski, he’s great on the DFB and does well here. He will have more day like this in my opinion. HE’s like Hitzelspeger on VFB.
Toni, for being the “torschutz koenig” he missed alot of opportunities.
Over all, like the website said, this is one to forget. I’ll write this one off as a fluke.
Something that did bother me though, was that when the camera panned over to Ribery after the 4th or 5th goal, he was on the phone laughing. Maybe I’m just being picky, but just seemed inappropriate
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jocamryn: From what the announcers said, he was talking to his Mom. Maybe that’s why the smile? I know my mom always makes me feel better when things are ugly. After all, they had shown him earlier during a previous goal throwing his head back in frustration.
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this was the match that dispelled all the lies and half trouths that have circulated by and By extension Bayer’ns upper management to hide the fact that Bayern are poorly. Two wins in matches against teams that put all their men behind the ball and attacked by sending long balls to a lone striker and suddenly Bayern’s defense had exemplorary (despite the fact that 3 center backs had only to deal with one striker) and that both Victories came more through individual effort by Toni and not any great team play. They Bayeern went to Romania and a played a team missing seven players and only won 1-0 in a disturbingly even match but that was hailed as a vital win. finally trhere cannot be any lies anymore when you get beaten so bad that it historical there can be no excuses. It isa quite clear Klinsman is out of his dept at Bayern and something needs to be done.
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Werder didn’t even play spectacular they simply played the way they always play when they play away games to Bayern. the difference was Bayern were no where near the level they were last season and the result reflected that. Klinsmann came in and said “Bayern will play dynamic attacking football” Bayern have NEVER played dynamic attacking football in any of the games they played so far. Instead they have played a lifeless mechanical impractical style of football. against Werder Bayern had no creativity whatsoever and only scored because Werders defense fell asleep after Werder took such a big lead. the Defense allowed 5 goals because Klinsmann’s defensive system sucks, if van Bommel ans ze go forward and stay upfield who will shield Bayern’s defense? and Klinsmann’s offense organization is just as bad. Bayern simply bring the ball forward but don’t attack the opposing teams box. There is absolutely no creativity or fluidity, no quick one two passes into the box, no through balls nothing. Werder simply kept one of the faster defenders on Toni to exploit his slowness and kept Podolski out of the box and suddenly Bayern became toothless. the only good thing about that match is that it brought all of Bayern problems into the open hopefully that will encourage Bayern’s management and Klinsmann to solve them.
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I gave myself plenty of time to try to look upon this rationally, so, in no particular order:
I would say, 1 Bremen goal was the result of the “Klinsmann system”, 1 was terrible defending, 2 were squarely on Rensing, and 1 was legitimate.
I’m been a strong defender of Rensing–but I will say this–if this is the kind of effort he puts up against a strong opponent, it’s time to start talking to Robert Enke’s agent. It cannot be easy to play behind this defense, but go through the teams in the Bundesliga and tell me which of the other goalkeepers would have allowed 5 goals in this match in Rensing’s place? I got through a double-digit number of teams before deciding, eh, ok Weidenfeller perhaps.
Sometimes one has to be a leader by action rather than words. Apologies Angela, but Mark Van Bommel seems incapable of this. He was particularly awful; he displayed both the hallmarks of a bad Van Bommel performance–horrific passing and taking that desperate shot from about 10 yards further than would ever be recommended and sailing it upstairs. But guess what? Who is the leader of this team in his stead? Schweini, really? I feel there are at least aspects of leadership that are sorely missing for this team.
Demichelis was unusually awful, and this is magnified because he’s the stability in that back line.
Lost in the shuffle, Kinhofer is a terrible referee. There were *many* questionable calls, and I think it cannot be questioned that Baumann should have been sent off. Angela, you were exactly right in pointing out that when commenting on the sub. Undoubtedly, Thomas Schaaf realized he got lucky getting Baumann through the half, and was not going to tempt fate again.
It is very tempting to blame Klinsmann after a loss like this, however, I lay more blame on the man sitting to his left. If any of us were asked this past summer what Bayern needed to address, we would all unanimously have stated that they needed to shore up the defending. It was plainly clear to all of us, that no matter what the stats said about goals allowed in the Bundesliga, the major weakness of this team was its defending. How can you expect to win in Europe by marching out the same defense that took the field in St. Petersburg, which showed how unready for “prime time” our defenders were? And yet, Herr Höness, flush with a record-setting balance sheet, chose to stand pat. I refuse to believe Oddo would even have been acquired if Sagnol and Altintop were healthy. Two seasons ago, he stuck with a strike tandem for a year too long–and this season he seems to have made the same mistake with his backline.
After all of this, I think we’re going to win the cup match, and I think we’re going to win in Hannover too. If Sunday’s results showed anything, it may be that it’s a bit too early for any other heads to start taking measurements for the league crown. When we destroyed Bremen in the Weserstadion early last season, I was convinced that Schaaf had lost the team, and they were heading down the table. It took some time, but Bremen recovered nicely, even if they really never seriously challenged for the title. So, there’s not really a reason yet to think this team can’t recover. But it will take ego-trimming at many levels of the organization, and ego-trimming is not an FC Bayern specialty.
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My applaus to Pizarro, he could have rubbed this in the fans’ faces, but he didn’t. He showed restraint after scoring against his former club. Classy.
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One thing we need to remember… Even Oli had bad games. I would rather write this off as a bad game for everyone, and see future performances before we start writing off Rensing and Klinsmann’s system. It’s just too early to go crazy. Yes, it was a terrible game, ut good teams learn from games like this. Let’s not all go crazy right now. I know I was sick and disgusted watching the worst meltdown I have seen from Bayern in a long time, but let’s show a little patience. This was only one loss. The only systemic problem I see is that Lucio and DeMichelis in particular, although being great players, are slow of foot, so they need to adjust the system to compensate for this. Rensing didn’t have his best game, but I am sure he will be fine. You really can’t blame this on him. No one outside of Borowski had a memorable game, that’s for sure.
One last thing… I think I saw you were in Texas, Angela? Did Ike miss where you were? As someone who has been hit by several hurricanes where I live, I know how sucky they can be.
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Luke Demichelis was bad against Steaua also but Steaua didn’t have quality players like Bremen. Every single goal was a result of Klinsmann’s system. Every Werder goal came either directly or indirectly from a counter attack that exploited the fact that once Bayern wing backs and defensive midfielders moved up the field they never moved back down field to assist Bayern’s center backs. Bayern will beat Nuremberg because they will play like how Cologne played everybody behind the ball and only attack by sending long balls to the lone striker. Against Lyon Bayern will struggle and even though i would like Bayern to win realistically i cant see it happening.
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Luke: There are so many reasons that I adore your comments. You are quickly becoming my hero. And seriously, stop apologizing for things that you say. I am okay with people having a different opinion than me. And I can certainly point out when van Bommel has a bad day. He may be my favorite, but that doesn’t make me completely blind.
I still hold true to the fact that I think he is the best for the captain job right now. I don’t see any others even trying to provide direction at this point. We’ll just have to see what happens. His contact is up in June anyways and thus far, no word of a renewal at this point. I would hate to see him leave though.And I agree whole heartedly with this:
//I would say, 1 Bremen goal was the result of the “Klinsmann system”, 1 was terrible defending, 2 were squarely on Rensing, and 1 was legitimate.\\Roger: I am a little bit farther west than Texas, but we received some pretty bad rains and flooding due to Ike. We don’t get much bad weather out where I’m at, but when we do it tends to be pretty bad. No medium ground. Stay safe against all those hurricanes!
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i have no doubt that if Klinsmann maintains the same system and Bayern play the same lifeless, mechanical, impractical football this will be the first defeat of many and Bayern will struggle to get out of the Champions league group stage. Excuses can be made but this loss and future poor poor display will speak for themselves. positive thinking cant hide bad football.
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Well tonight is their chance to redeem themselves, hopefully everyone starts to get back into form. I expect Poldi will be back on the bench.
You all heard that he may be released over the winter break? I bet it’t to pay for a new acquisition. Here’s my question though. I’m tired and can be forgetful at times,but WHO is the 4th option if Klose and Poldi were to get hurt?? I really don’t like it when they thrust Luca up all by himself, he’s ineffective as a lone striker.
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Just wanted to post about last night’s victory. Wasn’t it nice to see a calm, competent 4-4-2 take care of business? Actually I don’t think the match is any kind of real litmus test, Nuremberg is really a poor side, which is kind of surprising considering how many of the same faces are still there from 2 seasons back. But anyhow, I think the best sign was that Klose’s goal was really a confidently-taken shot, and quite a beauty. It was also positive to see Ottl getting involved in the attack, and I welcome his creativity, because I haven’t seen enough from Van Bommel. I’d like to continue to see Borowski playing in his natural position on the left while Ribery works himself back into full fitness, and then after that, maybe he trades starts with Ze Roberto.
Once again, we’re only getting one delayed match on GOLTV this Saturday and this week, no Bayern coverage at all. On top of that, they will be showing Friday’s Schalke-Cologne match on SUNDAY. I know Hannover-Bayern is not the top match, but I still cannot understand these programming decisions, and no explanation is forthcoming. What was once a 4-match (3 live) schedule (remember when all the Friday matches aired live too?) has been whittled down to 2 delayed matches so they can show us AC Milan classics and 8 year olds scoring. I thought when GOLTV picked up the rights to the national team’s matches up to 2010, it indicated a long-term commitment to German football; now I am rooting against their picking up the Bundesliga rights beyond this season.
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When it comes to budesliga coverage, that is one of the bigget reasons that I will stay in Germany as ling as I can. I keep reading about how the DFB is expanding it’s TV rights to larger markets, yet still I here so little about being able to see it in the satates. I’m going to try and get to a game when I get back from Iraq, however even as a card carrying Fanclub member, I’m not sure if I can score tickets before the winter break. Love to see the Champion’s league match at home.
Anywho I don’t get to watch DFB CUp games so I resorted to the Sportbild live ticker.
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Bayern fans, I’m liveblogging your game tonight if your interested in joining me
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No blog on the Hannover Game or last night’s?
I watched it PPV live on UEFA.com
Van Bommel sure seems to have fallen from grace. I hope that, Kilnsman does not do him like he did Kuranyi on the DFB and not give him an explanation. Very Sporting of MVB to leave without saying a word, however his displeasure is pretty clear. Make a decision about his captaincy already. I tend to agree with Effenberg though. I mean really, we all like cretain players for whatever reason. But really, we still haven’t found someone as profound as the “baby kaiser” who left in ‘06. I know I’m just babbeling but imaging what he could bring with him after spending 2 years in the EPL! Oh well, wishful thinking.
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jocamryn: I wasn’t around for either of the games. I was away for a few days completely without internet, cell phone or anything.. being one with nature for awhile to recharge from very, very long work days. I’ll be back at it now though.
I have no comment on the MvB situation. It does NOT make me happy. I could fib and say I’m on strike until they play him regularly, but that wasn’t the case. I am not happy at all with Klinsmann right now though.
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