Cottbus lost 1:3 and is now deadlast in the 2. Bundesliga which is a huge surprise. Berhalter was sent off when he received his second yellow in the 64th minute.
five minutes later, Zsolt Löw, Berhalter's vice-captain, received a straight red for a "notbremse", which is German for being the last man and fouling the offensive player heading to the goal. Cottbus was down 2-0 at the half, but came out playing extremely well and was only down 2-1 after 56 minutes, but missed a penalty in the 51st minute. Berhalter was taking a more a active role in the offense and even showed some fancy footwork in front of Frankfurt's goal. His first yellow was undeserved, and the second came after he pushed an offensive player down when their feet became tangled. He was none too happy with being sent off, and there was a lot of frustration from all of the Cottbus players. Next week the team will try to head into the winter break on an positive note when it hosts Karlsruhe. However, along with Berhalter and Löw, Daniel Gunkel, who received his fifth yellow of the season, will miss next week's contest, which means the starting central defense will be in street clothes. The question for the winter is if the team will try to get some new players and who the coach will be on Jan 23rd.
In situations like these (giving up a lot of goals), I look to the midfield defense as the culprit. I hope Cottbus can pick up a couple of solid defensive midfielders during the break.