Today: Could have been worse

Times change so quickly sometimes and today I change the headline of this blog entry from better to worse and it fits. The Werkself doesn't embarrass itself in Fürth, Freiburg only gets a point at home against Gladbach and Leipzig even loses to Union at home shortly before the end. This means that our starting position has improved again.

The story of the game in Fürth is actually quickly told. We fell behind early, quickly equalized and took the lead thanks to a goalkeeper's mistake, then didn't let anything go to waste in the second half and added to our tally.

Three games left until the end of the season and a win against Frankfurt would help us a lot.

Could have gone better

Leipzig is and remains a fearful opponent for the Werkself at home. And last night, too, things could certainly have gone better for us in the important game for the Champions League places. In the end, however, our guys were empty-handed with 0:1.

In the social media, the comments that deny the team the mentality are now piling up again. Sometimes I wonder about the tone, but this seems to be the case not only in football. Many see the Champions League as unattainable four matchdays before the end. That's complete nonsense. As fourth in the table, we have everything in our own hands. Sure, the lead over fifth place has been bigger before, but it's currently one point. The fact is, of course, we have to win next week in Fürth and then at home against Frankfurt. Maybe it's to our advantage that they're on the road more in Europe than in the league, but you could have said that about Leipzig, too.

Good or bad?

0:0 in Bochum. Is that a good or a bad result for the Werkself? First of all, it's good that the defense didn't concede a goal. Bad, on the other hand, is the exact opposite, that our guys didn't score one up front either and that, all things considered, VfL was certainly slightly better. However, one must not forget that Bochum is very strong at home and has beaten Bayern and has also played against Dortmund draw. All in all, we can live with the point. My old saying is: You have to win your home games and score every time away, then you play internationally next year. In that respect, it's okay today, no more and no less.

Magath's tormentor disenchanted

Three weeks ago, I feared the worst when Hertha introduced Felix Magath as their new coach. Somehow, after coach dismissals, the Werkself is always one of the upcoming opponents. Sorrowfully, we have experienced this with the home defeat against Wolfsburg with autumn when Florian Kohfeldt coached the Wolves new.

And Hertha had put their foot down in the first Magath game before the international break, beating Hoffenheim 3:1 at home.  And now us?

No, thank goodness. Bayer hadn't won its last five league games against Berlin and hadn't even scored a goal of its own in its last two home games, 0-0 and 0-1. Admittedly, it wasn't a pretty game, but no matter: in the end it was 2-1 for Bayer and thus we defended third place. As always in the past weeks: the result should have been higher, in the last ten minutes alone there should have been three home goals.

Be that as it may: today it is important to have clinched the three-goal victory. Magath's tormentor didn't disenchant us today and that shows the team's willpower despite the numerous absences

With an away win into the international break

I'm so happy for our Brazilian after Paulinho's late goals in Wolfsburg, after he left so much in the last few weeks. Hopefully these goals will help him to break the knot and show his class on the pitch in the coming weeks.
The win gives us hope that we can still get the necessary points for Champions League qualification in the next few weeks. But we can't hope that our rivals will let us down like they did at the weekend. We have to pull it off ourselves.

The next knockout blow

Bayer was eliminated from the Europa League last night with a 0:1 against Atlanta Bergamo, the next knockout for the Werkself. Bayer was well set defensively in the first half and did not allow anything spectacular from the Italians compared to the previous week. Bayer came out of the dressing room with more offensive verve, but again the Werkself should not succeed in scoring a goal. The chances were there, on the contrary, in the injury time it came to the - as they say in ice hockey - Empty Net Goal of the guests. Pure disappointment that our logo is not in the drum today at the draw.

Emptiness after derby defeat

 Even one day after the unnecessary 0:1 against Cologne, I still can't understand the result. It was once again a day of unfortunate events. Frimpong out after a good ten minutes, the next injury to Wirtz twenty minutes later. And the news of the cruciate ligament rupture is shocking news. To make matters worse, Kossonou was the third injured player to go off at half-time. Of course, that leaves you with almost no tactical options in the second half.

To make matters worse, Cologne scored with their second chance, although the Werkself should have been in the lead long ago. And the equaliser was also denied. The press will later say that the team failed to make the most of its chances. Hopefully, the headlines will be more Bayer-friendly again after next Thursday's match against Bergamo.