BVB v. Werder Bremen [R]

[footyfan1]

No, no, no. I never said you said they dominated us. I'm just saying what I saw in the game.


Gotcha. Sorry.

[karny9]

I dont think you can blame Smolarek for inaccurate finishing. BVB had about 4 three man breakaways. Dont know how in the ******** Gambino managed to miss the first one that badly. Terrible pass by Buckley/Odonkor to Smolarek on the second one. And Smolarek managing to hit the post from 6 meters out on the third one.

But in all honesty, saying that the management is fair in searching for a TRUE central striker is a bit harsh, dont you think?

[footyfan1]

I dont think you can blame Smolarek for inaccurate finishing. BVB had about 4 three man breakaways. Dont know how in the ******** Gambino managed to miss the first one that badly. Terrible pass by Buckley/Odonkor to Smolarek on the second one. And Smolarek managing to hit the post from 6 meters out on the third one.

But in all honesty, saying that the management is fair in searching for a TRUE central striker is a bit harsh, dont you think?


Not at all. I don't blame you for standing up for your guy, but whether you agree or not, I'm not the only one who feels his inept finishing is the major reason we lost today.

But on my list, I also blamed Odonkor's crappy pass in the first half due to his horrible first touch. That one, even Smolarek could have put away today.

I love the guy, but he had a s#itty match today. Plain and simple.

[david29]

But in all honesty, saying that the management is fair in searching for a TRUE central striker is a bit harsh, dont you think?

Keep in mind it's nothing personal against Smolarek, in fact I would think he'd be one of the most popular players at the club. It's simply that finishing has never been his strongest point, and it could probably be said that his 12 goals so far this season have been more of a 'very pleasant surprise' than an expected return from a 'key striker'. There's also the fact that for large parts of this season he's been carrying most of the goalscoring burden on his own, and defenders have simply sat on him for ninety minutes knowing that guys like Buckley, Odonkor, Rosicky etc. weren't likely to pose much of a threat to goal even if their general play was good.

So he might have missed some chances today but don't let that give you the impression he's suddenly less popular with fans. Simply that with Matthew Amoah yet to make his debut most of us are hoping he's the guy that can bury the opportunities the team is easily capable of creating, just like we saw yesterday.

[footyfan1]

Keep in mind it's nothing personal against Smolarek, in fact I would think he'd be one of the most popular players at the club. It's simply that finishing has never been his strongest point, and it could probably be said that his 12 goals so far this season have been more of a 'very pleasant surprise' than an expected return from a 'key striker'. There's also the fact that for large parts of this season he's been carrying most of the goalscoring burden on his own, and defenders have simply sat on him for ninety minutes knowing that guys like Buckley, Odonkor, Rosicky etc. weren't likely to pose much of a threat to goal even if their general play was good.

So he might have missed some chances today but don't let that give you the impression he's suddenly less popular with fans. Simply that with Matthew Amoah yet to make his debut most of us are hoping he's the guy that can bury the opportunities the team is easily capable of creating, just like we saw yesterday.


Very well put! And when I said I don't blame management for seeking a TRUE central striker, I did mean it just like that, but nothing personal against Ebi.

When we brought him in, it was as a winger and midfielder. That's also where he's played his best football for us. To his credit, he's done more than an admirable job for us filling in after Koller's injury.

However, that doesn't mean he gets a free pass when his lack of production costs us a match..........

[deyna199]

I think smolarek will play better if he doesn't have the pressure on him to be the only scorer, especially if a striker who can win headers well (smolarek isn't strong enough for this) is brought in. but he did miss a sitter by hitting the post; i was screaming while watching that game too, offside every 2 seconds :eek: Nevertheless, right when koller went down early in the season bvb was searching for a replacement for him, temporarily and long term, since he is leaving in the summer. It doesn't really have anything to do with smolarek's goal scoring, the decision was made before he went on a nice 12 goal run. i think management knows that smolarek's goals may "dry" up since he hasn't played as striker at the professional level. although, when he played for poland at the youth level he played as striker and was very good :)

Odonkor is a very hard working player, he runs endlessly for the team and isn't selfish at all, as compared to some of the players on the team. i wish he had a better touch though, but he is a hard worker and may blossom nicely if he can improve on that one crucial area. he pretty much led the attack, no one can catch him :D

good luck to bvb in the upcoming matches!

[Arlo]

i'm dissapointed at this defeat too and it could have been even worse, but weidenfeller did his best. as for smolarek he's a human like all of us and humans make mistakes let's just hope that he'll improve and try his best to not let that happen again

["Eisenfuß" Eilts]

Lucky win for us yesterday.
Dortmund had a lot of good chances,
thanks to Wiese and the post (2x),
that they didn´t trash us yesterday.

Respect to Klasnic, that he played and scored,
although he had a heavy cold.

Against Juve it will be a very tough task,
because they are normally not chance wasters
like most of the Bundesliga teams.

[karny9]

Very well put! And when I said I don't blame management for seeking a TRUE central striker, I did mean it just like that, but nothing personal against Ebi.

When we brought him in, it was as a winger and midfielder. That's also where he's played his best football for us. To his credit, he's done more than an admirable job for us filling in after Koller's injury.

However, that doesn't mean he gets a free pass when his lack of production costs us a match..........

Allright I can see what you're saying, just reading this from the beginning made it seem like he was getting blamed for the loss, even though thats not what you guys meant. About him being a central striker, you guys are right that it is not his job, and he would probably do a lot better for the team if he was on the wings as a striker, or maybe as a mid where he plays for us, even if that means his goal production would go down.

Either way, Ebi had a bad game, and even though mostly everyone around him played bad too, he will need to find his scoring touch again or else BVB will have it a lot harder in the next few weeks.

[Hypo-Luxa]

Frustrating. That one word sums up that game. Yes we gave up a goal but SHOULD have potted three. Have the coaching staff not taught the Dortmund players the intricacies of the off-side trap? If the players would have been just a second or two more patient there would have been double the chances. Mind you with the poor finishing and poor final passing BVB displayed out there it would not have mattered how many chances they made for themselves. The speed of Odonkor, Gambino and even Smolarek would have torched the off-side trap even if they would have waited a few more seconds. The Bremen defense was so fully committed to the trap that they were caught out of position more than a few times. Wish someone would have stepped up and told the players to just wait a few seconds more at some point in the match.

As for Smolarek's lack of scoring..he's a great servant to the club and I don't think anyone can take away how clutch he has been for Dortmund filling in for Koller. Even true strikers have dry spells they go through and ALL strikers (barring a few of World Class caliber) have horrible games where they look as if they couldn't score in a Thai brothel. Rosicky looked average today. He had a few good passes, but nothing that really looked to break the Bremen defense wide open. Again, it wouldn't have mattered if he had set up the front line with pass after pass with the poor finishing. Kringe's post shot was a cannon. Looked ok out there, just not a true right-sided midfielder. Were we missing Sahin's creative play? I thought we looked more than a little flat so maybe. BvM put out a team that was good enough to win the game, the execution by the players, however, was not.

For the non-partial viewer, it was a great game. Alot of chances and some great end to end attacking play. but for a BVB supporter, the match was more frustrating than me on a golf course on a windy day...

[footyfan1]

Lucky win for us yesterday.
Dortmund had a lot of good chances,
thanks to Wiese and the post (2x),
that they didn´t trash us yesterday.

Respect to Klasnic, that he played and scored,
although he had a heavy cold.

Against Juve it will be a very tough task,
because they are normally not chance wasters
like most of the Bundesliga teams.


Congrats to you guys EE. I have no complaints about the loss. You guys took your chance, we didn't take any. In a match like that, he who scores the goal, takes the three points. That was you guys. Now go on and catch BayScum!!!

["Eisenfuß" Eilts]

Congrats to you guys EE. I have no complaints about the loss. You guys took your chance, we didn't take any. In a match like that, he who scores the goal, takes the three points. That was you guys. Now go on and catch BayScum!!!

Much luck for BVB.
The team seems to be on a good way
under Van Marwijk, who let the youth players
improve a lot.