Friday, March 6, 2009

Werder travel to Baden-Württemberg

After successfully stomping Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal the Green Whites face 1899 Hoffenheim at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena.

While recent play in the UEFA Cup and the Pokal has been strong Thomas Schaaf knows Werder must break the five match win-less streak if there is any hope of a Europa League spot. Like Werder, 1899 has stumbled of late and have effectively reversed their great start of the year with some very average performances in the Rückrunde.

Expecting a highly attack focused match, Thomas Schaaf will miss Naldo due to his red-card against the Bavarians and Clemens Fritz's status is questionable. The coach is hoping Tim Wiese will be ready and by all accounts he should be able to go. However if a problem they will need to dip into the reserves as Christian Vander is out. The struggling hosts will miss Sejad Salihović and Timo Hildebrand to injury as well as Tobias Weis, Gustavo and Selim Teber to suspension.

With the chances of making up the needed eleven points in twelve matches for a Europa League spot is low, a victory on Saturday will stave off overall criticism of Klaus Allofs and Thomas Schaaf for another week.