Borussia Dortmund vs Werder Bremen preview: Two struggling sides look to turn things around | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund

To say Borussia Dortmund are in freefall might still be putting things lightly.

They’ve made a disastrous start to the calendar year, losing four straight games in all competitions. Their narrow loss to Bayer Leverkusen wasn’t too bad of a result, but then Dortmund fell to relegation candidates Holstein Kiel, going down 3-0 in the first half.

BVB followed that up with a defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt, which put immense pressure on coach Nuri Sahin going into a midweek UEFA Champions League clash with Bologna. Things were going well, with the German side opening the scoring on the night.

Disaster stuck past the hour mark, though. Dortmund gave up an equaliser, and then conceded another just a minute later. It was a stunningly quick collapse, and they failed to make a comeback themselves, ultimately losing 2-1.

That was enough for the front office, as they fired Sahin shortly after. The black and yellow will go into this weekend with interim manager Mike Tullberg as they look for an official replacement. They need to turn things around soon, though, as they’re already seven points off the top four.

BVB still clearly have a talented team, and they’ll need those talents to step up if they want any chance of fixing this mess.

Team NewsDortmund practically has a full squad to choose from, with defender Niklas Süle the only player likely to miss out.

Werder Bremen

Life’s not been much better at the Weserstadion.

They only have one point since the winter break, and their most recent contest was their most damning. Bremen lost to FC Augsburg at home by a 2-0 scoreline. Now, they did not get the luck of the draw on the day, as they were denied as many as three penalties, while the opposition had a red card narrowly called back by VAR.

However, Werder’s performance didn’t really warrant much better. They were slow going forward, lacking real creativity and the ability to correctly make a single pass. It was a similar story at the back, with poor marking and bad communications leading to their demise.

While supporters aren’t going to hit the panic button quite yet, more showings like this absolutely will drive them wild. Die Werderaner are better than this, which was on show at the end of the Hinrunde when they flew up the league standings.

There’s been a real desire to finally return to European football, and there’s really pressure from the fans, players, and staff to make that dream a reality. Bremen are still in the thick of things, only two points off of 6th place Mainz.

They’ll have a tough test ahead of them on Saturday, but if you want to make the next step as a club, then you have to sometimes win games like these. You can step up, or step to the side.

Team NewsBremen will continue to be without long-term absentees Felix Agu and Keke Topp, while there are two fresh concerns at the back, as Niklas Stark and Julian Malatini are both listed as doubtful at the moment.