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• Something's not quite right

  October 2, 2008 0 Comments

  

  Something's not quite right....

  There’s a break in Bernd Schneider’s stats at the start of 2008. He has notched up 295 games and 81 goals. He always played at least 28, and mostly 30 plus, games a season. In the 2007/2008 season Schneider only made 15 appearances and has yet to feature this term. This lay off was first due to a knee injury picked up the UEFA Cup encounter with Leiria. But more serious consequences came with a neck operation to deal with a disc problem on 25 April 2008 in Hannover. A rather unusual injury for a footballer.

  Schneider aims to keep going

  Bernd has remained patient and positive over recent months: “It is annoying but moaning doesn’t makes things better. In fact it achieves the exact opposite. I’m looking forward”. Bernd Schneider is still not prepared to hang up his boots. He will be 35 in November. Time is at a premium in this job. But Bernd aims to keep going. And after missing out on EURO 2008 that cannot be the end of the road for the Bayer midfielder.

  Return date still up in the air

  Day in, day out there is a busy routine; Rehabilitation treatment from club doctor Dr. Achim Münster in the Cologne-Merheim clinic and running and cycling sessions with fitness coach Holger Broich. And for the last couple of weeks he has been able to use his favourite piece of training equipment again - a football. “They say I’m making good progress,” he reports, “ but a return date is still up in the air. I’d like to give a firm date but that’s not possible. The main thing is to ensure that all the fitness issues have been cleared up.”

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• Bayer up to second

  September 27, 2008 0 Comments

  

  Bayer up to Second

  3-0 up with 15 minutes left on the clock - were Bayer in any danger? Yes, indeed. VfL Bochum scored twice in quick succession leaving the Werkself to negotiate an uncomfortable last ten minutes. But Bayer secured their fourth win of the season and are now second in the table.

  Bruno Labbadia put out the same side as started the cup game against Augsburg . And they soon picked up where they left off earlier in the week. Bayer only needed six minutes to take the lead with a well worked free-kick routine.

  Tranquillo Barnetta made as if to shoot, but ran over the ball before receiving the ball on the move. His square pass was met by Arturo Vidal in the centre of the box; his first shot hit the post but he made no mistake with the rebound.

  Bayer were full of confidence and were quick on the attack. Gonzalo Castro outwitted the Bochum defence, passed to Barnetta who put his shot wide from 12 yards out with 11 minutes gone.

  Great goal from Augusto

  It was no surprise when Bayer went further ahead. In a smart counter attack on 21 minutes Stefan Kießling laid the ball on for Renato Augusto who struck a low shot into the bottom left of the Bochum goal from 20 yards out. It was only at this point that the hosts offered any serious resistance.

  René Adler seemed a little unsure in dealing with a long distance effort from Sinan on 24 minutes and Bayer’s keeper was soon under more pressure. Christoph Dabrowski’s shot from the inside left position flew just over the bar just after the half hour mark.

  But Adler reacted magnificently when an unmarked Shinji Ono popped up in the box. Ono’s follow-up shot was cleared off the line by Manuel Friedrich eight minutes before the break. And on 40 minutes Adler made a reaction save to turn a deflected Paul Freier shot away for a corner.

  Goal number 7 for Helmes

  After the half-time break Bochum were still striving for their first goal but the Bayer defence were on top of their game. And once again Patrick Helmes produced the goods: With 61 minutes gone the striker rounded off a counter attack on the right with a firm low shot into the far corner of the Bochum net to make it 3-0 - Goal number seven of the season for Helmes.

  Bochum refused to give up and found their second wind with the introduction of Mimoun Azaouagh. Azaouagh set up Stanislav Sestak to make the score 3-1 on 79 minutes and just two minutes later Sinan headed the rebound from an Azaouagh shot that hit the post into the Bayer net to put the hosts back in the game.

  Early bath for Yahia

  In a hectic finish to the game Anthar Yahia snapped and was sent off for a crude foul on Sascha Dum with six minutes to go. Freier missed the chance to make it 3-3 in injury time.

  “We’ll have to analyse the game but then get it out of our heads as quickly as possible,” declared Adler who was obviously happy with the result but disappointed with final period of the game.

  VfL Bochum: Fernandes - Pfertzel, Maltritz, Yahia, C. Fuchs - Zdebel - Freier, Dabrowski - Ono - Sestak, Sinan

  Bayer 04: Adler - Castro, Henrique, M. Friedrich, Kadlec - Rolfes - Renato Augusto, Vidal, Barnetta - Helmes, Kießling

  Goals: 0:1 Vidal (6 min.), 0:2 Renato Augusto (21 min.), 0:3 Helmes (61 min.), 1:3 Sestak (79 min.), 2:3 Sinan (81 min.)

  Substitutions: O. Schröder for Zdebel (54), Azaouagh for Pfertzel (65), Gekas for Helmes (73), Dum for Barnetta (73), Mavraj for Ono (79), Schwegler for Renato Augusto (90 + 4)

  Booked: Pfertzel, Dabrowski, Sinan

  Sent off: Yahia (84., serious foul playl)

  Attendance: 24,000

  Referee: Dr. Drees

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