Green Whites collapse continues

The anticipation of the Green Whites season has turned to dismal failure as they dropped 2-1 to Arminia Bielefeld. The loss continues the gruesome play into the Rückrunde and results in Werder being in the bottom-half of the table.

Some will mentioned the absences of Frank Baumann, Naldo, Diego, Claudio Pizarro and Petri Pasanen from the lineup but the existing lineup did absolutely everything other than close the final effort. Werder controlled the ball roughly seventy-five per-cent of the time and pelted the Bielefeld goal but were only able to claim Hugo Almeida's goal before the break.

The visitors sent Weserstadion into shock when they opened the scoring six minutes before the half-hour when Michael Lamey crossed to Thorben Marx to finish. Hugo Almeida leveled the match with a slick free-kick from just outside the box a minute before the break but four minutes into the new half Bielefeld found the winning goal. In a hapless move Torsten Frings was disposed of the ball and Christopher Katongo provided Artur Wichniarek the ball, resulting in the go-ahead goal. Werder pushed forward but there was no breaking through Michael Frontzeck's tough defending and the home side fell in a foul 2-1 loss.

Werder manager Klaus Allofs said following the match:
"Hunters sometimes go out full of hope and come back deeply disappointed. That was the case with us today. And if you look in the locker room you can see how aggravated we are that we could not get at least a draw.

"That was a very bitter setback with our lofty goals. We are realistic enough to know that after a home loss against Bielefeld we don't need to talk about the championship or the Champions League. Our next goal is now a victory at Schalke.

"I talked of a setback. But we cannot stop having high expectations for ourselves. You could see what kind of potential this team has on Wednesday in Dortmund. We will be travelling to Schalke with any left desire to win or enthusiasm.

"It is too early to say the hunt is over and throw in the towel. We will not allow ourselves into a situation where we can't move up the standings."