Bundesliga – Match Preview: Werder Bremen versus Hamburger SV
Werder Bremen faced Hamburger SV in their sixth German league match of the season. Bremen have not started this season off brightly and will be looking to get back to their winning ways by defeating Hamburg. On the other hand, Hamburg
have been quite good in the German league thus far, in comparison they have been better than Bremen as far as their start to the season is concerned.
Hamburg captured Ruud Van Nistelrooy in the winter transfer window of 2010, more accurately, the Dutch striker put pen on paper for the German club in January of 2010. It was a remarkable signing by SV who have been striving to impress
in the Bundesliga since the past couple of seasons. Hamburg have had famous players in their line up in the past as Van Der Vaart, currently at Tottenham, was a Hamburg player before he made his switch to Real Madrid in the Spanish football league.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s signature was a calculated risk taken by the club as the striker does have an astonishingly prolific goal scoring record but his fitness problems and injury troubles have been well documented. Van Nistelrooy’s
big break in football came when Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United signed him from PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch football league. During his time at the theatre of dreams, Van Nistelrooy became United’s leading striker in terms of goals as he bagged 150 goals
in 219 appearances. At Real Madrid, despite drifting in and out of the Los Blancos side, Van Nistelrooy managed to score 64 goals in 96 games.
The only problem that Nistelrooy has had is with his knees. Ever since the start of his career, Ruud has suffered from weak knees which gives him injury problems from time to time but up till now, Hamburg’s calculated gamble on Ruud
has paid off as he has been firing on all cylinders for the German club. In a total of twenty four appearances for the German club since his arrival in the Bundesliga, Ruud has scored thirty goals. In the 2010-2011 season so far, he has scored six goals in
six games and is expected to feature for Hamburg as they travel to Bremen.
Hamburger SV are currently sixth in the German league table as they have gathered eight points from their five matches, they have a total goal difference of positive one. In their last league match, Hamburg suffered an embarrassing
defeat at their very one home stadium by Wolfsburg, as the game ended with the score line at 1-3 in favour of Wolfsburg.
Conversely, Bremen are currently fifteenth in the Bundesliga table and are really struggling to get their act together. After parting ways with Mesut Ozil in the summer transfer window, Werder have been constantly struggling to resume
their old winning ways which had seen them finish third in last year’s German league season. However, this season such a feat looks difficult for them. Bremen not only have to cater for the competition in Bundesliga but they also have to prepare for the UEFA
Champions League where they are a part of the group which consists of Tottenham, Inter Milan and F.C Twente from Switzerland.
Werder Bremen have lost three of their five matches so far, the remaining two have ended in a draw and a loss for the German giants. All the focus and attention at Bremen has been on their winger, Marko Marin who is expected to take
over the creative duties after his compatriot Ozil departed for Real Madrid. Their veteran striker, Claudio Pizzaro is also under the spotlight for his lack of goals since his winner against Sampdoria in the UEFA Champions League qualification stages. Bremen
are favourites to win this match despite their bad run of form as the match is taking place at their home stadium but a draw wouldn’t be a surprising result as Hamburg are well capable of giving Werder Bremen a run for their money.
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