Preview Matchday 1 – Armenia Bielefeld Away

Here we go.

Being forced to go a solid month without any top flight football is paramount to torture. Or slavery. Or some other equally inappropriate metaphor. Anyway, it’s hard.

So it is that we find ourselves on the eve of the new season. So full of promise and potential. Nine Green-White months of BL, Pokal, and CL matches lay before us in a tantalizing buffet of football. A smorgasbord of tackles, goals and defensive miscues. An amazing amount of 5-3 victories balanced by a smattering of 5-3 loses. Diego will dazzle. Naldo will infuriate. Vranjes won’t score and Schaaf won’t smile. And at the end of the day, Werder will finish second to Bayern. Or first. Or third behind FCB and a newly frightening Schalke. Maybe Wolfsburg’s money crashes the party this year. I will miss the stylings of Marcelinho. I won’t miss the mewlings of Rafael VDV.

Onward and upward. Matchday 1.

Us

With today’s draw between Werder’s two chief rivals, this is an early opportunity for a quick two point lead at the top of the table. The deed will have to be done without two cornerstones in the starting eleven, one the most outwardly offensive element in the side, the other the most outwardly defensive. The only benefit to not having Diego and Merte available (to Olympic spirit and knee knack, respectively) is that we’ve known we’d be without them for a little while. Last year’s injury decimated squad was so damaging because it just never let up and Schaaf had to make lineup changes literally every few days depending on what few healthy bodies he had available.

The last few weeks have been spent without Diego and Merte, and with Werder in a countless number of personnel combinations for preseason friendlies. They’ll be ready.

Them

The last two trips to Bielefeld have been trips to forget. Last season’s dour 1-1 draw was a low point in the slide that lead to second place. And in 06-07? An end of the season 3-2 loss dropped Werder to third when the title was within striking distance. After dodging a bullet engraved with 2.BL last May, Bielefeld are again looking like possible relegation fodder. But, the first week of the season has a way of producing surprises against unsuspecting sides.

Random Lineup Generator

With Werder’s cast of interchangeable attacking parts, it’s always a bit hard to nail down a Schaaf lineup. He used a myriad of players during the preseason, but we do have an idea of how he’ll trot them out tomorrow. It’ll be a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. If he felt like giving the Werder Offside a call to ask for advice we’d tell him:

Wiese
Fritz Naldo Prödl Boenisch
Jensen Frings Özil Hunt
Rosenberg Sanogo

The GK and defense is pretty much set, as is Frings as a holding midfielder. Özil plays the Diego role and Hunt hangs on the left, just behind the forwards. My hunch tells me Markus and Boubacar get the nod (although we’ll see Almeida and Harnik at some point).

Five Questions to be Answered

1. Can Mesut Özil adequately fill in for the most creative, dynamic player in Germany? For two weeks, yes. Especially here in the first match, where he’ll have some room to run.
2. Can last year’s dreadful start be avoided? Yep. The beginning of 07-08 was marred by injury and the mental scars of the collapse into third place. This year the squad is mostly healthy and ended last season strong. Preseason has been stellar.
3. Can Hunt begin to make The Leap? The young German international will look to become a regular starter with Boro moving south to play 12 minutes a match. The opportunity is his.
4. Can Prödl adjust quickly enough? Making a big assumption here, but my understanding is that the German BL is a bit more competitive than the Austrian version. Can Seb adapt to the German game fast enough to compensate for the loss of Merte? He wasn’t supposed to start this soon, let’s hope he’s ready.
5. Will the defense play defense? Prödl may find himself alone at the back more often than he’s used to, with his other three backline mates constantly pushing into attack. Werder’s biggest glaring weakness still looks like Werder’s biggest glaring weakness.

One for the Road

In case you missed the collective sigh coming from the North West, Werder have finally acquired the long elusive, veteran striker to replace Ivan Klasnic. And he’s not so new. More on this later. We have just enough time to say that we’re delighted. Delighted.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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