Schalke 04 – Werder Bremen: Bittencourt’s Goal Revitalizes Bremen’s Hope And Extends Schalke’s free fall (0-1)

Werder Bremen, the team that is desperately in the need of three points to avoid relegation, dominated the match with eighty percent possession in the opening twenty minutes. Schalke became more courageous later on in the first half, but conceded after a careless turnover by Jean-Clair Todibo. The second half was characterized by a lot of long balls, with both teams displaying their offensive woes. 

Tactical analysis and match report by Jonas G.

Looking at this matchup before the start of the season, people would expect this to be a fight for an Europa League spot. Although Schalke is still in the mix, their run of ten winless games doesn’t give the impression that they have a decent chance of bringing international football back to Gelsenkirchen. 

Bremen, on the other side, are in even more trouble. They restarted the campaign with a worrying performance against Bayer Leverkusen, but bounced back with a narrow away win at Freiburg and an unfortunate draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Nevertheless, Florian Kohfeldt’s Bremen is in a desperate need for points if they want to avoid relegation. 

Schalke, like in their mid-week fixture against Fortuna Düsseldorf, started with a deep 5-4-1 formation. Center-back Matija Nastasić and striker Guido Burgstaller were replaced by Todibo and Michael Gregoritsch. Juan Miranda started at left wing-back and Alexander Nübel, who lost his starting position after confirming his move to Bayern Munich next summer, returned in goal to replace the struggling Markus Schubert. 

Florian Kohfeldt made only two changes, but mostly sticked to the team that deserved a draw against Mönchengladbach. Kevin Vogt returned from injury and started . . .