Kaiserslautern came into this game in the relegation playoff spot, with no victories in their last seven games. Although they had actually conceded ten goals fewer than fifth-placed Bremen, scoring at the other end has been a major problem this season for the team from Palatinate: the entire squad had managed 13 league goals in the first half of this season – Bremen’s top scorer Claudio Pizarro alone scored 12 in the same period.
Werder had however been struggling away from home before the Bundesliga’s winter break: a 5-0 defeat in Mönchengladbach and a 4-1 reverse at Bayern’s Allianz Arena were followed by another 5-0 hammering, at the hands of Schalke 04, in the last round of matches before Christmas.
The away side were missing influential midfielders Marko Marin, Tim Borowski and Aaron Hunt, as well as Brazilian Naldo at the back, while Kaiserslautern boss Marco Kurz gave first starts to defender Jan Šimůnek and new signing Jakub Świerczok, a 19-year old Poland u-21 international. He replaced top scorer (with three goals), Itay Schechter, who missed out through suspension.
Kaiserslautern (4-4-2): Trapp; Bugera, Rodnei, Šimůnek, Dick; Fortounis (Jörgensen), De Wit, Tiffert (Kirch), Şahan; Świerczok, Kouemaha
Werder Bremen (4-1-2-1-2): Wiese; Schmitz, Sokratis, Prödl (Silvestre), Fritz; Bargfrede; Trybull, Ignjovski; Ekici; Pizarro, Rosenberg
First half
Kaiserslautern had the best of an entertaining first 45 minutes, but until the final five of those Bremen had actually come closer to breaking the deadlock.
Lautern set the tempo from the outset, with the full backs and wide midfielders staying close to the touchlines and playing early crosses or diagonal passes towards Dorge Kouemaha. Bremen meanwhile tried to pass their way through the middle of the pitch, but playmaker Mehmet Ekici was quickly shut down by Christian Tiffert and Pierre De Wit – in fact, Ekici didn’t win any of the eight challenges he was involved in during the first twenty-five minutes.
The wide men in Bremen’s diamond midfield, Tom Trybull and Aleksandar Ignjovski, tucked in, but didn’t manage to pass around the deep-sitting Kaiserslautern central midfield pair, and the result was free space for the home side’s full backs, Alexander Bugera and especially Florian Dick, to get forward on the overlap. Dick’s linking up with Olcay Şahan caused problems for the Bremen defence, but goalkeeper Tim Wiese remained largely untroubled.
The first big chance came at the other end, Markus Rosenberg heading a Pizarro cross against the post after 22 minutes, then fluffing the rebound. Sebastian Prödl had to be replaced by Mikaël Silvestre after receiving a broken nose when Kouemaha finally got the ball clear with a bicycle kick.
The game had been simmering, and finally came to the boil in the last five minutes of the first half. Debutant Świerczok cut the ball back to Kouemaha after a mazy run, but the striker on loan from Brugges couldn’t finish. The Cameroonian then missed an even better opportunity a minute later, mishitting his shot from six yards out. But Kaiserslautern’s best chance of the half came in the last 60 seconds of normal time, Tim Wiese making an incredible save to turn Dick’s header from a Tiffert free kick onto the inside of the post, then collecting the rebound.
Despite that flurry of chances for Kaiserslautern in the last five minutes, Bremen had in fact come more into the game after the first half hour. Ekici finally found space playing almost as a centre forward, with Rosenberg pulling the centre backs apart by drifting to the left – and it was the away side that had the final chance of the half. Ignjovski’s shot was well saved after lovely passing interplay involving Claudio Pizarro.
Second half
The second period got underway with no changes in personnel, and Lautern again had control of the game in the early stages. However, they failed to create clear-cut chances as they had before the break.
The first real opportunity came after 57 minutes, when Pizarro broke through the home defence but failed to get his shot away. From there Kaiserslautern goalkeeper Kevin Trapp launched a counter attack that resulted in Pierre De Wit hitting the crossbar with a curling strike from the edge of the area. Then, a few minutes later, Kouemaha was inches away from connecting with Bugera’s dangerous cross from the left, but couldn’t get the vital touch.
At this point it would have seemed only a matter of time until the deadlock was broken – had the team in the ascendancy been any other than Kaiserslautern, who were again troubled by a lack of clinical finishing. For their part, Bremen seemed to be suffering tactically in two respects. Firstly there was the problem often encountered with a midfield diamond: a high reliance on the “number 10” being the main inventive influence. If he is off form or well covered (Ekici was probably both), there is suddenly a dearth of creative options. Secondly, there was the continued commitment to passing their way through the congested centre of the park. It seemed clear that manager Thomas Schaaf needed to allow his full backs to push forward and provide a threat from wide if Bremen were going to take all three points.
However, although Pizarro had a shot blocked by Trapp after 78 minutes, neither side made any great effort to force a winner. Tiffert and Şahan swapped positions before the Lautern captain was replaced by Oliver Kirch after 87 minutes having taken a knock, but a draw was never going to be a bad result for the home side.
What was more disappointing was that Schaaf didn’t do more to change the game in the second period. Many of Bremen’s more creative players may have been missing, but Marko Arnautović can feel aggrieved that he wasn’t introduced from the subs’ bench. On this form Werder did not look like Champions League material, and they almost paid the price for their lack of adventure in stoppage time: Świerczok’s shot went inches wide, however, and the game finished goalless.
