He isn’t Nemo! It’s “Puff the magic dragon”…

Mesut Özil having a cigarette and a glass of wine on a yacht just outside Ibiza had the internet forums, Twitter and Facebook go mad a while ago(While the German media were surprisingly rather silent about the matter). ”A bad role model” and ”The reason for Özil’s bad stamina” were amongst the most uttered phrases.

Mesut Özil having a glass of wine and a smoke.

To give some perspective to the matter: Smoking and playing professional football is not an entirely new combination. Johan Cruyff smoked two packs a day, Brazil captain Socrates one pack a day. Sure, the days of smoking during training sessions have come to an end, but even after Cruyff and Socrates there have been smoking football pros. Amongst them also a number of German professional. No Schalke fan would doubt that Yves Eigenrauch gave his all for the club, despite his habit of lighting up the place in the nastiest way possible(he rolled his cigarettes himself).

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King Lear, Bundesliga edition

Shakespeare’s King Lear is about a king who loses his mind, and the characters around him do nothing to stop him. These days Bundesliga fans can watch a somewhat similar situation emerge at Werder Bremen, where the long serving king Thomas has lost his grip.

The league’s longest serving coach (11 years) has had a tough year so far. In the beginning of the season the club lost its star midfielder, Mesut Özil, and their star defender Naldo has been out for the entire season. Schaaf has throughout the whole season tried to make a brave face, and stated that the situation at some point had to turn around. The board of directors and the fans at Bremen have so far believed the most beloved coach in the Bundesliga.

My tormented weekends

It is three o’clock at night. I have just woken up, another nightmare about a horrific Werder Bremen match has given my body an uncomfortable feeling, and rendered me sleepless. Being a Werder Bremen fan this season has truly been frightening and  horrific. The weekends I used to long for so much, have tormented me this season. (Yes, I am breaking my personal rule, and write something personal.)

The fans of Werder tried to uplift the players spirit by giving them chocolate after 3-1 defeat against Bayern.

Well, most football fans are like regular people. They can’t know if a car crash on the way to work will take their life at some point in the future, or even if they will be married in 2 years time to the woman they so dearly love. However, where we differ from a huge segment of the population is what we know about our football club of choice. We know that we love that club, and we know that we’ll love this club endlessly forever. Whatever may happen, championships, relegation, bitter defeats, nothing can change that. Football fans have a constant in their life that they can be sure about, many people do not have that.

Sweeten’ the pain

Werder Bremen thanked their fans for their kindness. This picture is taken from their Facebook-site.

Werder Bremen didn’t manage to take any points against Bayern Munich, but their fans show that they are still supporting the team: to console the players after the unbearable 3-1 loss at home against Bayern Munich, a number of fans put chocolate onto the players cars.

The fans of Werder Bremen truly deserve praise. If any other German club that was said to be a contender for a Champions League spot would be fighting relegation, their fans wouldn’t probably give them chocolate.

The team can start to repay their fans by winning the next away game against Mainz 05.

Panic on the streets of Bremen

The team lacks ideas, their performances have been lackluster so far this season. Werder has enormous problems defensively and the otherwise so productive attacking force of the team hasn’t worked either. What are Thomas Schaaf and Klaus Allofs going to do?

Klaus Allofs and Thomas Schaaf have formed one of the best coaching teams of the league for more then 11 years now. While Schaaf knew how to lead his players to victory, Allofs was legendary for finding the right signings. Johan Micoud, Diego, Naldo, Mesut Özil etc. The list of successful signings of Allofs is long.

Bremen in a coma

 

Mertesacker and Fritz doing what Werder defenders have done most of the time this season: Watching their opponent. (Source, 1. FC Köln Facebook page)

However, this year, it seems, Allofs has lost his magic touch. The Brazilian signing Wesley has been used all of the pitch, but hasn’t impressed on many occasions this season. Silvestre has made the left back position to his special disaster area, and Marko Arnautovic hasn’t scored since the second match of this Bundesliga season.