Energie Cottbus stun Werkself with late goal

In the final match before the break Energie Cottbus stunned Werkself with late goal to bring the match a 1-1 draw that left supporters seething. Although Werkself had controlled the overall play, die Lausitzer stingy defense was too much to break through. The draw was a costly lost two points, dropping Leverkusen to fifth place with thirty-two points and three points behind leaders 1899 Hoffenheim and Bayern München.

Tactically there were few surprises as die Lausitzer started the match at ease with playing behind the ball and looking to limit Leverkusen's advances. Much to my chagrin it worked to a charm as Werkself's efforts were mostly from a poor angle or longer range in nature. Chances prior to the defensive first half were modest to say the best and the match went to the break scoreless.

At the break Bruno Labbadia re-tooled the lineup, calling on Arturo Vidal to firm up defending and giving Tranquillo Barnetta the directive to attack. The effect was immediate albeit not still not easy to find the key to the die Lausitzer lock. Finally a rare opportunity presented itself with thirteen minutes remaining as Côte d'Ivoire international Constant Djakpa scooped up a rebound of a Patrick Helmes free-kick and sent it back into the box for Simon Rolfes, who did not hesitate from five meters giving Werkself the 1-0 lead.

With six minutes remaining Cottbus brought in Shao Jiayi for ex-Partizan man Ivica Iliev and he immediately made his presence known, hitting the crossbar at the eighty-six minute. With the packed BayArena ready to celebrate a victory Shao Jiayi spoiled the party as with only seconds left in added-time he headed in Ervin Skela's corner from the near post.

Auf Wiedersehen

Markus Babbel pushes VfB to 3-0 victory over Energie Cottbus

Since taking over the coaching reigns Markus Babbel has had a pronounced and visible impact upon VfB. As evidenced by Saturday's 3-0 victory over Energie Cottbus, VfB is a "new" team, hungry for focus and focused upon attaining it. This showed immediately in Cottbus, as only four minutes in ex-Dinamo Bucureşti Ciprian Marica passed to Roberto Hilbert at the edge of the area, for which the German international crisply delivered the ball to the back of the net. Lausitzer didn't back down and went on the hunt to level but Jens Lehmann would have nothing of that nonsense, pushed his forces on and denied every opportunity. The day was to be VfB's and three minutes past the hour Cacau swept a well weighted pass to veteran Jan Šimák who didn't hesitate doubling the margin. The match was no longer in doubt as Sami Khedira made in 3-0 with twenty-two minutes remaining.

Following the match Markus Babbel said:

"The decisive thing today was that during the critical phases of the game we held our own and battled hard where necessary. Sure, we had some luck on our side but the second goal pretty much decided things. I said at the break that we would need to use our counter attacks more effectively and that's just what we did. We knew it would be no easy task and that's why I'm so happy that we took on the fight and played passionately."

Schalke to dominate die Lausitzer

Schalke and Energie Cottbus matches last year were completely "night and day" with both clubs winning at home. Lausitzer were not very friendly winning 1-0 at Stadion der Freundschaft but in May die Königsblauen demolished them 5-0 with Kevin Kurányi netting the final four goals.

Although Energie sits at the bottom of the Bundesliga table, their performances haven't been as bad as their record suggests and just keep finding themselves on the wrong end of the score by a goal. Bojan Prašnikar's club is deserving of respect and Schalke must proceed with caution. This past weekend this secured a difficult point against Arminia Bielefeld even though they were constantly under seige and playing a man down for half the match. They play a tough challenge-heavy brand of Football that supporters can be proud-of and make use of good scouting contacts through the broadly defined Balkan region. Unfortunately for Die Lausitzer their relegation fight starts sometime near the first Löwenbräu being served at Oktoberfest so that toughness is called upon early. Ivan Radeljić will miss the match due to suspension and late fitness tests will decide whether
Branko Jelić or Ivica Iliev will replace him or Stiven Rivić will be brought up from the wing to work alongside Dennis Sørensen. Igor Mitreski and Stanislav Angelov are still out of the defending group.

Fred Rutten knows die Königsblauen are heading into a tough run, fully-fit and will look to kill this match off in an efficient manner. Following this match they face a nine-day stretch with Racing Santander in the UEFA Cup followed up by Bayern München and Bayer Leverkusen.