Leaders on a Roll
October 28, 2006
Fresh after missing the midweek cup action Bremen strolled past third from bottom Mainz with doubles from Miroslav Klose and Aaron Hunt, and late strikes by Naldo and Diego.
Werder, assured of staying top of the league after the rest of the weekend's games due to their vastly superior goal difference over closest rival Schalke 04, were following up last weekend's 3-1 victory over reigning champions Bayern Munich, who are now lying six points behind.
Bremen's confidence is hardly lacking. Goalkeeper Tim Wiese recently boasted, "We are the best team in the league" while the club's Germany defender Per Mertesacker simply said that Bremen were "on a roll."
Despite the obvious buzz about Bremen, the team have been cautioned by coach Thomas Schaaf about how over-confidence can suddenly bring everything crashing to earth.
"We have a togetherness in the team and that is making the difference at the moment," Bremen's Brazilian playmaker Diego said. "We are top of the table and playing well, but we can not afford to relax as there is a long way to go before we achieve our season's aims."
Bayern's aim is to retain the title for the third successive season but three defeats in their first eight games has heaped the pressure on ahead of Saturday's home fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt.
No more mistakes for Bayern
"We need to win our three next home matches now and beat Schalke away then we will see where we stand in the table," Bayern's Dutch midfielder Marc van Bommel said. "We cannot afford to make any more mistakes though."
The German tabloids have made out that Bayern are in some sort of a crisis, but they have won all their Champions League matches, are in the last 16 of the domestic cup and only three points behind Bremen in the league, all of which hardly points to a crisis.
"We have lost four important players in (Michael) Ballack, Ze Roberto, (Jens) Jeremies and (Bixente) Lizarazu. Perhaps we are lacking that little bit of experience," said French defender Willy Sagnol. "It will be tough until the winter break. I can only hope that the gap doesn't become too big."
Bayern were unimpressive in a 1-0 midweek cup win against second division Kaiserslautern, but remain favored to beat Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Frankfurt are undefeated in the league, but a closer look at their results reveals just one win and seven draws. To make things worse, Eintracht have won just three matches in 36 trips to Munich.
Cologne thrashing shocks Schalke
For Schalke 04, joint leaders with Bremen, the league has now taken on additional meaning after a 4-2 extra-time national cup exit to second division Cologne on Tuesday.
Schalke are already out of the UEFA Cup, so a good season in the league is crucial and they will hope to go on a run starting against VfB Stuttgart on Sunday.
"We wanted to do well in the cups but it has not happened. We must now concentrate fully on the Bundesliga and doing as well as we can in that competition," said goalkeeper Frank Rost.
Coach Mirko Slomka emphasized that "we are joint Bundesliga leaders with Bremen," but there was no getting away from the fact that his team faces another tough test at improving VfB Stuttgart on Sunday.
Stuttgart team manager Horst Heldt said that his side should not be deceived by Schalke's midweek flop.
"I can see neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. Schalke have a big fighting spirit," said Heldt.
Hamburg start climbing the mountain
Along with Schalke and Bremen, SV Hamburg were touted as challengers for the Bundesliga title in the pre-season, but the club have a mountain to climb after a terrible start and are a full eight points behind Bremen.
Hamburg won their first match last weekend with a 2-1 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen and two-goal hero Paolo Guerrero hopes to build on that against Hanover on Saturday.
"I think we should aim to start a run now. The win in Leverkusen should give us some confidence," said Peruvian international Guerrero.
Third-placed Hertha Berlin, declared winners of their cup match at third division Stuttgarter Kickers which was abandoned after an assistant referee was hit by an object with the Berlin club leading 2-0, travel to Energie Cottbus on Saturday.
In Saturday's other games, Nuremberg visit Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach make the short journey to Bayer Leverkusen and bottom club VfL Bochum face VfL Wolfsburg. Arminia Bielefeld welcome Alemannia Aachen on Sunday.