A false start for Werder Bremen’s new coach Daniel Thioune in the Bundesliga: At SC Freiburg there were no points in the 0-1 (0-1) draw – even though Bremen had the majority for a long time and even benefited from dubious referee decisions.
Niklas Beste scored the “golden goal” for Freiburg after just 13 minutes of play. The SC then retained the upper hand, although the team had to operate outnumbered from the 52nd minute onwards after a dubious red card against Johan Manzambi. Referee Deniz Aytekin once again caused Freiburg anger in the final phase when he disallowed what was essentially a perfect goal from Yuito Suzuki because of alleged foul play. The victory lifted Freiburg back to seventh place in the table, and the situation in the relegation zone doesn’t get any easier for Werder.
“It wasn’t a nice debut for me. That would only have been the case if we had scored three points. But we were too safe for that. We weren’t in the dangerous areas enough”Thioune criticized his team to the sports show. Freiburg’s goalscorer Beste said: “After the red card it was a show of strength. You can clearly see the team spirit we have in the team. We are very happy with the three points.”
Thioune hadn’t made any major changes to Werder’s starting eleven. The only newcomer to the team: Keke Topp, who was allowed to start in attack alongside Justin Nijnmah. At a mild twelve degrees in the extreme southwest of the country, the guests from the north tackled the match bravely. Werder pressed Freiburg early on, the two front leaders aggressively attacked Freiburg’s build-up players. SCF coach Julian Schuster, who had announced that he wanted to take a look at Werder’s new style of play in the first few minutes, then directed his keeper Noah Atubolu to throw more long balls – he sensed gaps in Werder’s last line.
Bremen’s Njinmah fails, Freiburg’s best scores
The game developed extremely dynamically. In the twelfth minute, Werder’s Njinmah made a wonderful attempt at an overhead kick, but the acrobatic move failed because of the attentive Atubolu. And then things happened quickly: Freiburg countered and outplayed Werder’s defense at high speed. Beste was released on the right. The 27-year-old put the ball on his left foot at the right corner of the penalty area and shot it wonderfully into the top left corner – 1-0 (13th).
Niklas Beste celebrates the 1-0
Three minutes later it was almost 2-0: After Christian Günter’s cross from the left, Igor Matanovic rose highest in the center, but his header was denied by Mio Backhaus, who reacted brilliantly, in the Werder goal. There were signs of a fireworks display of opportunities – that was a mistake. Surprisingly, the game petered out after this start. Werder – perhaps shocked by the goal they had conceded – no longer attacked so courageously, Freiburg acted just as cautiously. You were leading. Nothing more happened until the break.
Freiburg’s Manzambi was unfortunate – sent off with a red card
It was a little surprising how peacefully, almost harmlessly, the actors interacted with each other. Freiburg’s Johan Manzambi received the first yellow card of the game in the 51st minute when he stepped on the lower leg of Olivier Deman as he slipped into the duel. Yellow – everyone thought so too. Except for the VAR, which switched on and sent referee Deniz Aytekin to the video device. According to the pictures, the referee actually decided: a straight red card. Manzambi had to leave the field.
Daniel Thioune – bankruptcy to debut.
Bitter for Freiburg, good for the game. This was now picking up speed again. Werder pressed vehemently for an equalizer, and Freiburg had counterattack opportunities. The SCF had the first big chance. After a ball that was defended too short, Maximilian Eggestein caught the ball, but volleyed it just over the Werder goal from 16 meters. On the other hand, Njinmah suddenly only had Atubolu in front of him, but lost his nerve during his attack. He put the ball next to the left post from 15 meters.
Werder in the majority – a difficult business
Werder had the upper hand. In the 66th minute, Samuel Mbangula, who had just been substituted, had a great chance. After a cross from Yukinari Sugawara, he volleyed to the ball on the left, but aimed a little too high – the ball passed just over the crossbar. Ten Freiburgers now holed up at the back. As was the case against Hoffenheim (0:2) at the end of January, Werder were required to have the majority.
But it is known that Bremen do not necessarily bring the stars out of the sky, especially in attack. At least Atubolu had to intervene a few times. Otherwise, technical weaknesses among the Werder players were repeatedly revealed – especially as seen in the young Topp – which ruined some well-planned actions in the final third.
Referee Aytekin blows the whistle for Freiburg’s Suzuki to make it 2-0
Freiburg’s substitute Yuito Suzuki showed how to score coldly in the 77th minute. After a long ball, he beat Felix Agu from Bremen, who was also substituted, and scored from 16 meters into the bottom left corner. But Aytekin whistled. And pointed to a free kick for Bremen. He saw a foul by Freiburg. The TV pictures showed quite clearly that both players held each other just a little bit.
After the controversial sending off against Manzambi, Aytekin made the second big decision against Freiburg. And both were probably wrong. The points still remained in Freiburg. Which in the end also corresponded to the performance conditions on the pitch.
Freiburg without a coach in Hoffenheim, Bremen against Bayern
The upcoming program for both teams: Freiburg will be guests at TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.). By the way, without coach Julian Schuster on the sidelines. He is suspended after his fourth yellow card of the season in Sinsheim. Bremen welcomes Bayern Munich on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.).
