What has always been exciting about the Bundesliga is that the coaches present such beautiful contrasts to one another. There is no one type of trainer that works in every location, and certainly not all trainers react the same way to comparable situations. Ole Werner and Torsten Lieberknecht definitely have a manageable number of similarities, as Saturday proved. For Werner, the always objective coach of Werder Bremen, a lot has to come together for him to hit the ceiling; Rumor has it that so far he has only touched this imaginary ceiling with his head and has never left any cracks in it.
Torsten Lieberknecht, his colleague from Darmstadt 98, is more prone to emotional outbursts. “Scandal!”, ranted Lieberknecht and angrily stalked through the interview area of Bremen’s Weser Stadium: “It’s an absolute scandal!” When Lieberknecht, who had to watch the game in the stands due to a yellow card suspension, reached the locker room, the decibel level had reached its peak. There was banging and rumbling from the depths of the stadium, but Werner wouldn’t be Werner if he hadn’t explained shortly afterwards with his hands in his pockets and in all calm: “The rule isn’t great. But the rule is the same for everyone.”
The 1-1 draw between Werder and Darmstadt offered little that could make it into season reviews, but the scene of the game was at least close. The last minute of stoppage time had begun when Bremen goalkeeper Michael Zetterer received a back pass that he wanted to pass straight to a teammate – unfortunately, this pass reached 98 attacker Tim Skarke, who passed Zetterer and took the ball to make it 2-1 shot into the goal for the Hessians.
Skarke, which proved fatal for the Darmstadt team, had the ball hit his hand by Zetterer; a case that is recorded in the rules as a clear offense because any handball in front of goals is punishable – regardless of whether the hand was applied or was shot from close range. Skarke’s goal – rightly so – didn’t count. Later at the press conference, Lieberknecht, who had now cooled down a bit, realized that this rule was not necessarily cool, but was generally valid. “It’s the rule,” summarized Lieberknecht, “and I would like to meet the inventor of this rule – but not today.”
Rules experts had meant well for SV Werder that day, but the Bremen team had already accommodated the Darmstadt team. They were ahead in all relevant statistics, shot at goal more often and had the ball more often, they ran more and won more close-range duels – but only two Darmstadt players scored legally, namely Christoph Zimmermann with an own goal (8th minute) and Julian Justvan then into the goal the Bremen team (33rd). Werder now has a record in its season chronicle that its northern rival Hamburger SV could complain to the patent office about: The draw against Darmstadt meant the first point win against a promoted team – previously there was a defeat in the first half of the season against the “Lilien” and two defeats against them 1. FC Heidenheim given.
Clemens Fritz becomes the new sports director – will the “Werder family” stay among themselves again?
SV Werder lost eleven out of twelve possible points against teams that had tended to count towards their own account in the calculations before the season. The good thing from Bremen’s point of view is that with the minimum goal of a “quiet season” in mind, they don’t need these points so urgently because apart from that they are having a really decent season. The bad: A decent season awakens European longings in such a sometimes somnambulistic traditional location – and with a few more of the points lost against promoted teams, these could be achieved much more realistically than the most optimistic season calculators would have imagined in the summer.
The places that qualify for the Conference League are within immediate reach for Bremen. Nobody talks about this at Werder; especially not the coach Werner, who really only thinks from game to game. In terms of domestic and especially foreign policy, such a success could provide a basis for argumentation that couldn’t be more beautiful in the Bremen office. During the week, former Werder professional Clemens Fritz, currently head of professional football, was chosen as the successor to sports director Frank Baumann, who was leaving in the summer – a message that was not sent out in red signal color because it was about as surprising as the fog horn -Sound after a home goal in Bremen’s Weserstadion. “Structured interviews” led to this decision, explained Supervisory Board Chairman Hubertus Hess-Grunewald and referred to a “shortlist of five applicants” among which Fritz prevailed.
Some Bremen fans see this as just the announcement of a decision that was almost certain from the start: the legendary “Werder family”, the accusation goes, is once again keeping to itself, although a fresh impulse might not be a bad idea now. Fritz, however, can claim that he, together with Baumann, organized this impulse from day-to-day operations: They have renewed and rejuvenated the team, especially in the last two transfer periods; A team, mind you, that was still playing in the second division two years ago and that has now made a “remarkable development,” as coach Werner emphasized on Saturday. With peace of mind, of course.