Sunday, February 15, 2009

draw to Gladbach as crisis denials continue

The Green Whites denial of being in a "crisis" continue as they played Borussia Mönchengladbach to a 1-1 draw. With the single point, Werder is still without a win in the first three matches of the Rückrunde and only three points Köln in eleventh place.

A recap of the match is relatively simple as Werder controlled the run of play and drilled thirty-five shots towards the 'Gladback goalkeeper Logan Bailly. In the first half Werder came close to scoring at least four times, starting with Claudio Pizarro header being cleared off the line by Gladbach’s Paul Stalteri at the ninth minute, however they still couldn't break through. The intensity level after the break went into high gear and still there was no way past the committed opposition. Finally with fourteen minutes remaining Claudio Pizarro got the end of Germany international Mesut Özil’s corner and it looked like the win-less streak was broken. Like clockwork a few minutes later Marko Marin's free kick found an open Michael Bradley, who chested the ball down and drove it into the net to bring the match to a 1-1 score. Looking for the win, Werder drove forward but somehow the Gladbach 'keeper maintained the score-line and the match ended in a draw.

Most of the comments post match dealt with the surprise of the outcome and play of Logan Bailly however there are a lot of questions how the club will go forward. While many question Thomas Schaaf, the finishing of the once potent Werder has become a grim tale and must be dealt with.