Chapter 64: Misfortunes Never Come Singly
Winning against Musida was tough, but the feeling of recovery filled Werder Bremen with excitement.
Since the beginning of this season, Werder Bremen has achieved four consecutive victories in various competitions.
Their next opponent in the German Cup is Augsburg, a Bundesliga team currently ranked 16th in the standings, hovering near the relegation zone.
For relegation-threatened teams, securing survival in the league is their top priority, while cup matches are considered expendable.
Therefore, Werder Bremen is brimming with confidence.
They believe that facing Augsburg might be easier than playing against Musida.
There's a saying that good luck doesn't last forever.
In the fifth round of the league, Werder Bremen challenged Freiburg away.
Werder Bremen is currently third in the league standings, while Freiburg sits in eighth place.
Judging from both teams' rankings, it seemed that Werder Bremen had the upper hand.
However, the outcome of the match was surprising. When the final whistle blew, the score was 2-1 in favor of the home team.
It was Werder Bremen's first loss of the season in the Bundesliga, ending their three-game winning streak.
It felt as if Werder Bremen had been cursed in this match. They hit the woodwork four times and had two goals disallowed for offside.
The players were utterly dejected after the match. Despite dominating the game, they couldn't score. Even when they did, the goals were ruled out.
Lin Quan hit the woodwork once and had a goal disallowed for offside, ending his streak of scoring in four consecutive matches.
To him, scoring or not didn't matter as long as they won and secured points.
What he couldn't accept was neither scoring nor winning the match.
After this match, the attitude of the media towards Werder Bremen immediately changed.
They went from praising them as dark horses of the league who could cause chaos among top clubs to criticizing them.
They criticized Werder Bremen for relying too much on Lin Quan and De Bruyne in attack. Once these two were restricted by opponents, their attacking threat disappeared.
Furthermore, they believed that the coach's overhaul of the team's defense was a failure.
This season, Werder Bremen has conceded 8 goals in five rounds, averaging 1.6 goals per game, ranking third from bottom among the 18 Bundesliga teams.
Their weakness in defense still hadn't improved.
Although Werder Bremen currently ranks high in the league standings, if they don't address these weaknesses, they won't go far in the league.
In fact, if they had only lost one game, the media wouldn't have criticized them so harshly.
The reason for the media's criticism was mainly because Werder Bremen's next opponent is the Bundesliga powerhouse Bayern Munich.
Bayern Munich is in fantastic form this season. They defeated Wolfsburg 3-0 in the last round and have won all five opening matches.
If Werder Bremen hadn't lost this round, they might have had a chance against Bayern Munich with their four-game winning streak. However, their morale has already been significantly affected before facing Bayern Munich.
With the huge gap in strength between the two teams, almost no one believes that Werder Bremen can win against Bayern Munich at home.
This season, Bayern Munich has become even more terrifying with the addition of Martinez, elevating their strength to a new level.
They have achieved a perfect record in the league, Champions League group stage, and German Cup, remaining undefeated.
Any team facing Bayern Munich is overwhelmed by their luxurious midfield and attacking line.
Given Werder Bremen's current form, it's hard to imagine how they can defeat such an unbeatable team!
However, not everyone supports Bayern Munich. Borussia Dortmund fans are hoping that Werder Bremen can defeat Bayern Munich at home and end their winning streak.
In this round, Borussia Dortmund will challenge newly-promoted side Eintracht Frankfurt away.
Although Frankfurt is newly-promoted, they are considered a dark horse, especially given Borussia Dortmund's poor form this season.
Therefore, both the team and fans of Borussia Dortmund are taking this opponent very seriously and dare not underestimate them.
However, a dark horse is still a dark horse.
In Frankfurt's home ground, Dortmund and their opponents played a crazy match.
Reus, Götze, and Lewandowski scored one after another, giving Dortmund the lead three times, only to be pegged back by their opponents each time.
In the end, they shook hands with a 3-3 draw, a result that left both sides wounded.
Frankfurt had been closely chasing Bayern Munich in points before, but after this draw, they fell 2 points behind Bayern.
Dortmund only earned one point, accumulating 6 points in 5 rounds, widening the gap with Bayern to 9 points, diminishing their hopes of defending the title.
If they still want to contend for the championship, besides avoiding mistakes in their upcoming matches and continuously securing victories, they also need other teams in the league to step up and help them block Bayern Munich, preventing them from scoring.
Otherwise, even if they directly defeat Bayern in a head-to-head match, they won't be able to completely close the gap between the two teams.
In the league, there aren't many teams capable of threatening Bayern. Besides Dortmund, maybe Werder Bremen, Schalke 04, and Borussia Mönchengladbach have some hope.
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a strange team. Their strength isn't particularly strong, but they're exceptionally good at playing against Bayern Munich.
Every time they face Bayern, their players perform exceptionally well, leading to the saying "the little foal eats, sleeps, and plays against Bayern."
As for Werder Bremen, Dortmund believes that some of their individual players pose a significant threat and may create miracles.
To stimulate Werder Bremen to give their all and challenge Bayern, Dortmund's players publicly cheered for Werder Bremen on social media.
Lewandowski tweeted:
"Werder Bremen's counterattacks are particularly sharp. We've suffered losses twice against them before. Facing Bayern Munich, they will definitely continue to use this tactic. I don't think Bayern's defense can stop their counterattacks!"
Götze believes:
"Werder Bremen's number 6 (De Bruyne) is an excellent midfielder. His creativity and vision will help Werder Bremen win."
Reus didn't make a public statement. Instead, he privately messaged Lin Quan, asking, "How many goals do you plan to score against Bayern Munich?"
Seeing Reus's private message, Lin Quan was a bit surprised. He didn't expect Reus to contact him proactively, nor did he expect Reus's high praise for him.
After all, it's Bayern Munich, and it's not easy to score against them.
But he's not the type to be timid, so he replied:
"Of course, I'll score as many as possible. Don't worry, we, Werder Bremen, will definitely unleash our full strength against Bayern Munich!"
Seeing Lin Quan's reply, a smile crept onto Reus's lips. He liked this response.
But the other party replied again:
"Of course, it's the same when playing against Dortmund!"
Reus's smile instantly froze.
...
Due to the loss and the encounter with strong opponents, the atmosphere within Werder Bremen was very solemn before the sixth round of the league began.
Coach Shaf always had a stern face these days, showing no signs of smiling.
The assistant coaches were the same, all wearing troubled expressions, evidently lacking confidence in the upcoming matches.
Bayern Munich's front line attack this season was terrifyingly strong, with players like Robben, Ribéry, Mandzukic, Gomez, and Thomas Müller, each possessing strong scoring abilities.
Werder Bremen, on the other hand, was a team with poor defense, which meant they could hardly restrict the opponent's attack.
Unable to contain the opponent's offense, should they compete with the opponent in attack?
After the addition of Martinez, Bayern's midfield became even stronger, not only supplying more ammunition for the team's frontline but also effectively intercepting the opponent's attacks in midfield.
Faced with such an all-around upgraded version of Bayern Munich, is it really feasible to compete with them in attack?
(End of this chapter)