Top Of The League… for two hours, anyway!

By: Jamie | October 31st, 2009

We actually turned the tables on our opponents Nuremberg today. Typically, it is expected of Werder to go ahead 2-0 and then give up the lead in the second half. This time, Nuremberg were off the mark with 2 goals in the first half. For someone merely following the live scores update, things seemed bleak for the Green-Whites. Is this where the winning streak would end? A shock defeat against a newly promoted side?

Alas, Aaron Hunt decided to step up and pulled back two goals for Werder, waiting until the last minute to snag the second and earn Werder a draw. One point which sent us top of the league on goal difference – at least until the Schalke vs. Leverkusen match was over (another one where one team led 2-0 and blew it). With Bayer emerging with a point, they go top of the Bundesliga and we shuffle down to second – still, not bad!

We were without the services of most of our strikers – Pizarro was still out, and Moreno and Oehrl joined him in treatment. Almeida has returned to training but isn’t fit to play yet. So Rosenberg started the match. As much as I would like to see him score, I’m not exactly surprised that he didn’t. I hope he at least played well.

I was not able to see the match due to a patchy internet connection, so I can’t talk about how Werder actually played. Although I am due to mention the Pokal match and how fantastic Werder’s attacking play can be. Even missing our most potent striker, Claudio Pizarro, we managed to stroll past Kaiserslautern 3-0. All headers, too. It really is a joy especially to watch Hunt, Özil and Marin pass and flick the ball between them. And we were sending some marvelous crosses into the box. And Marko takes some beautiful corner kicks. With those three running riot around the pitch, we rely a bit less on our fullbacks to provide some attacking play, which lets them focus a bit more on defense.

Moving ahead, the draw for the quarterfinal of the DFB-Pokal will be tomorrow.