It’s rather early for a pre-match post (so early even the official site has not had time to put one up yet) but to keep things short, the next Bundesliga match is away to Werder Bremen on Tuesday.
I’m not looking forward to this match, in all honesty. Why? Because Werder positively spanked us last year, both home and away. In fact, the 0- 2 loss to Werder was the last home game of 07/08 and it marked Bayer’s miserable season ending. Michael Skibbe was sacked soon after that. But that’s another story.
The good part is that for this season so far, on form alone, Bayer is doing better on all fronts that matter. Bayer has won more matches (doh), and scored just slightly less goals but also has a healthier goal difference. Werder have drawn more matches however, with Bayer and Karlsuher SC as the only two teams remaining not to have drawn a match for the 08/09 season thus far. But there are lies, damned lies and statistics and a five point cushion this early in the season means nothing. A win will keep Bayer in the CL spot, a loss will close the gap between the teams to just two points.
Aside from wanting a win for obvious reasons, it’s also important, IMO, that Bayer develops the ability to beat the likes of Werder and Schalke 04. Bayer is a team with expectations of participating in at least the UEFA Cup competition each year – that’s precisely why Skibbe lost his job – so it’s important that they match title contenders within the same league at the very least. But on the other hand, I can’t say their recent record in the UEFA Cup has been stellar either. There’s no point harping on about playing in Europe when you’re easily dominated by other teams within the Bundesliga.
My prediction? A draw. Bayer and Bremen are both high-scoring teams so it won’t be goalless, that’s for sure. I say 2-2. But there’s no harm in praying for Werder’s defence to do Bayer a few favours.
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