From BZ/dpa
The crisis at Union Berlin is getting worse and worse. The capital city team also lost 0-2 (0-1) at Werder Bremen on Saturday, thus suffering their tenth competitive defeat in a row. The pressure on coach Urs Fischer is increasing after the weak performance on the Weser.
After three defeats in a row, Bremen finally had a threesome again, which also strengthened Werder coach Ole Werner. It was the first ever home win against the Union team in the Bundesliga. Werder had previously lost to Berlin three times in front of their own crowd.
In front of 42,100 spectators in the sold-out Weserstadion, Werder took the lead with an own goal from Robin Knoche in the 38th minute. Marvin Ducksch made everything clear for the Green-Whites a quarter of an hour before the end. To make matters worse, Rani Khedira also received a red card from the guests (61′).
Rani Khedira (r.) from 1. FC Union in the game against Werder Photo: City Press
The Unioners, who have to play against VfB Stuttgart in the DFB Cup on Tuesday, showed another performance on the Weser with many of the symptoms of a relegation season. Completely harmless and disjointed at the front, with an unfortunate own goal on the defensive to put us behind at halftime. There’s a lot going on at the moment against the surprise team of previous years. The unrest of the past few days also fits into this picture.
Initially, striker David Fofana refused to shake coach Fischer’s hand after being substituted in the Champions League home game against SSC Napoli and was then suspended for a week. Then there were discussions about the Italian European champion Leonardo Bonucci, who is said to be dissatisfied because he was not taken into account, but the Italian denied this.
A disappointed Robin Gosens crouches on the grass while the Werder Bremen players celebrate the goal to make it 2-0 Photo: City Press
“He had to watch twice now, but he behaved in a very exemplary manner. “What was written was a nonsense,” Fischer repeated again before the game on Sky. Nevertheless, all of this led to further discussions at the Alte Försterei. Bonucci at least returned to the starting eleven in Bremen.
The completely unsettled Union team noticed all of these blows in the neck in Bremen. Apart from a harmless finish from Christopher Trimmel in the first minute, the guests achieved nothing. A solid performance was enough for Bremen, who were also in crisis recently, to take the lead at the break. After a sharp free kick cross from Ducksch, Knoche unfortunately headed the ball into his own goal.
Union Robin Knoche heads the ball into his own goal Photo: City Press
After the break, the situation became even more precarious for the Iron Men. Khedira was shown the red card after a violent kick against Romano Schmid in the center circle – everything continued to go against Union.
The Union team did not have a significant chance in the entire second half, meaning that the Werder defense, which was heavily weakened by replacement goalkeeper Michael Zetterer, was never seriously threatened. After Ducksch made it 2-0, the game was decided and there was no more resistance from the Berliners.