“A real boost”: ‘Merte’ bounces back

Less than ten minutes after Sunday’s training had finished, when Aaron Hunt – who was back amongst his team mates for the session – found himself back in the dressing room. At the same time, Per Mertesacker was pulling into the Weser Stadium parking lot. The central defender had a schedule of post-match wrap-up, regeneration and some physical nurturing to go through. It was a physical balm for ‘Merte’ after his first full week back, which included 90 minutes against Energie Cottbus.

“In the last 20 minutes I really felt the intensiveness of the last few days. They weren’t easy to just shake off,” explained the 24 year old, and he continued: “But it was exactly those 20 minutes that were a real boost for me as I try to return to form.” Mertesacker is well aware that he has a lot to catch up on, having missed out on the pre-season programme: “Physically I am still not fully fit, but that really couldn’t be optimal right now, I’m still working on that.” In spite of playing catch-up, the young defender could certainly be satisfied with his return.

Not quite as far along, but headed in the right direction, is also Aaron Hunt. The young front man was back in team training on Sunday for the first time in almost four weeks. Hunt’s lay-off was forced by a combination of calf and Achilles tendon problems: “It’s all good now. I had a little pain at the beginning, but after five minutes of warming up the pain had passed,” explained the 22 year old. Head coach Thomas Schaaf is “not counting anything out just yet but the Champions League game on Tuesday, 16.09.2008, could be a little too early for him.” Hunt himself is not about to jump the gun either: “It would be nice to be there, but if that isn’t to be then it’s not such a tragedy.” Not available at the moment is Petri Pasanen. The Finnish defender is currently ill.

source: werder.de

From ‘Problem-Child’ status to match winners

It may have taken a long time to come, but maybe exactly because of that, Diego’s stunning drive to open the scoring looked even more spectacular: “We dominated the game but left so many chances unused. That made my goal very important – and it was a fantastic goal to boot,” glowed the goal-scorer after the game. Diego went on: “I knew straight away that I had connected perfectly with the ball but I then saw that the keeper was in flight in the right direction. I only really knew that the ball was going in as it passed the keeper.”

Just minutes later, the fans were out of their seats again celebrating the next stunning strike. Torsten Frings had simply let fly from 20 meters out and the ball rocketed in off the inside of the post: “That was the second stunner in a row in that game. I connected well with the ball but there is always some luck involved when the ball goes in so unstoppably. We had the luck today that had eluded us until now. It was tough work today, especially considering the number of good chances that we wasted, too easily at times.”

The theory that the game was won on the strength of two exemplary strikes was not something that general manager was willing to adhere to and he contradicted Torsten Frings, saying: “No, no – those one off, exemplary shots are the kind that are lashed in hopefully from way out and nobody knows where the ball might end up, but from 20 meters you can pick your spot.” At the end of the day, the sort of goals that are scored are, on the whole, uninteresting – it’s the three points that count.

source: werder.de

Bundesliga Team Of The Week: Round 4

Both Hamburg and Borussia Dortmund staged comebacks in their respective games, while Bayer Munich secured their second win of the season against Köln.  Werder beat Cottbus with three late goals, while Hannover cruised to a 5-1 win over Mönchengladbach.

This week’s line up appears as a traditional 4-4-2 as follows:

Goalkeeper

(1) Jens Lehmann (Stuttgart)

Many people believed that Stuttgart had taken a gamble on 38 year old Jens Lehmann in the summer after he was released by Arsenal, but the ex-national team keeper rolled back the years on Saturday to help secure a point against Hoffenheim.  He pulled off a number of top saves to keep Hoffenheim at bay and earn VfB a point.

Defenders

(2)  Andreas Beck (Hoffenheim)

Full back Andreas Beck played a blinder against his former side as Hoffenheim recovered well from their 5-2 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in their last match to draw 0-0 with Stuttgart.  Whereas Jens Lehmann was decisive in keeping Hoffenheim out, right back Beck was a key part of Hoffenheim’s clean sheet.

(3)  Heiko Westermann (Schalke)

German international Heiko Westermann is really cementing himself as one of the most consistent players in the Bundesliga after his performance against Borussia Dortmund in the Revier-derby.  The versatile defender racked up his third goal of the season in only the fourth game of the season.

(4)  Andrea Barzagli (Wolfsburg)

Italian World Cup winner Andrea Barzagli proved his worth on Saturday against Hertha Berlin as he kept new signing Andrei Voronin at bay.  The Ukrainian was very lively on his debut, but ex-Palermo defender Barzagli always seemed to have the upper hand as Wolfsburg took a point from the Olympiastadion.

(5)  Timothee Atouba (Hamburg)

Hamburg defender Atouba was sound at the back and got forward eagerly to provide plenty of crosses from the flanks.  The Cameroonian was recently linked with a move away from HSV, but he now looks set to enjoy a new lease of life under Martin Jol, under whom he played while at Tottenham.

Midfielders

(6)  Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg)

HSV came back from two goals down at home to beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-2, and midfielder Piotr Trochowski was one of the chief instigators behind their win.  The German international was on fire in the second half and it seemed that everything good that Hamburg did, went through him.

(7)  Zé Roberto (Bayern Munich)

The Brazilian midfielder was at his dynamic best against Energie Cottbus with a tireless display in the Bayern engine room.  He set up the first goal for Luca Toni and proved his all-round worth with a top display for the Bavarians.

(8)  Diego (Werder Bremen)

Diego was one of the inspirations behind Werder’s first win of the season and scored his second goal in his second appearance of the season.  Following his return from the Olympics the mercurial midfielder has certainly showed signs that he is willing to make up for lost time.

(9)  Szabolcs Huszti (Hannover)

Hungarian international Szabolcs Huszti made up for a missed penalty in the first half of his side’s clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach by chipping in with two further goals.  Hannover eventually ran out 5-1 winners at the AWD Arena and Huszti was a major contributor to that victory.

Forwards

(10)  Luca Toni (Bayern Munich)

Last season’s Bundesliga top-scorer Luca Toni got himself on the score sheet twice against Köln and it brought back the scenes from last season with a vengeance when he seemed to be scoring twice in every game he played.  He scored Bayern’s first two goals with his head and his right foot before turning provider for Lukas Podolski’s late goal.

(11)  Jan Schlaudraff (Hannover)

Hannover’s season exploded into action with a 5-1 home win over Mönchengladbach and former Bayern Munich striker Jan Schlaudraff hit the back of the net with two extremely well taken goals.  Both of his goals were sublime finishes and showed just what he is capable of and were a reminder of why Bayern signed him from Alemannia Aachen.  Hannover could be about to gain from Bayern’s loss.

Lehmann

Beck   Westermann   Barzagli   Atouba

Trochowski   Diego   Zé Roberto   Huszti

Toni   Schlaudraff

Honourable mentions:

As always there are a number of players, who deserve a special mention despite having not made it into the final XI.

Jaroslav Drobny was on top form for Hertha Berlin as the capital club secured a point at home against Felix Magath’s Wolfsburg.  He pulled off a number of good saves to keep his side I the game at the Olympiastadion.  Hoffenheim midfielder Luiz Gustavo put in a good performance against Stuttgart as did attacker Demba Ba.

For Bayern Munich, Philipp Lahm, Andreas Ottl and Martin Demichelis were also noteworthy as the Bavarians sealed their second successive victory of the season.  Paulo Guerrero was a top performer for Hamburg as they came back to beat Bayer Leverkusen at the HSH Nordbank Arena.   In the same game Bayer striker Patrick Helmes continued his early season form and was unlucky not to have scored more than one.

Torsten Frings put in a top performance for Werder smashing home a great goal, while Alexander Frei was a two-goal hero for Borussia Dortmund as they staged a remarkable comeback from 3-0 down to take a point from Schalke in the Revier-derby.  The Swiss start came on at half time to help swing the game back the way of the home side (even though one of his goals was clearly offside).

source: goal.com