Match Preview vs Werder Bremen

Opponents Focus: 

It's without doubt that Bremen are a different outfit that Tim Walter and his side met and beat in the first half of the season. A 2-0 Victory courtesy of Robert Glatzel and Moritz Heyer goals cemented the first derby victory of the season. 

Now, former Holstein Kiel Head Coach Ole Werner is firmly at the wheel and it Bremen have been fairly impressive since his arrival. 

Going off the form table, Werder looks a lot more secure with no defeats in eight after last weekends draw with Ingolstadt halted a seven win in a row streak for the Bremen side. 

The Match Facts : 

Fortress Volksparkstadion

After the home defeat of city rivals FC St. Pauli last week, HSV is the only team in German professional football that is unbeaten in its own stadium in the 2021/22 season. Since the 1:2 home defeat against Darmstadt on 9 April 2021, the Red Shirts have now been undefeated at the Volksparkstadion for 324 days (8 wins, 7 draws). In the current 2021/22 season, HSV have already collected 24 points at home (6 wins, 6 draws) and are thus in second place in the home table. The last two home games against Heidenheim and St. Pauli were both won (2:0, 2:1).

Duel of dominance

HSV and Werder Bremen are particularly impressive this season due to their possession-oriented style of play. While HSV dominates the possession statistics with 62.3% in first place, Bremen already follow in third place with 54.1%. The basis for the dominant style of play of the two northern rivals is the impressive passing statistics. While Bremen is in the top third of the table with a total of 10,175 passes played (3rd place) and a share of 82.2% of passes received (5th place) in both statistics, HSV leads both statistics. The Reds played a total of 11,363 passes, 85.7% of which reached their teammates. It is particularly striking that Werder use a lot of long balls (1,120, 3rd place), whereas HSV is in last place in this statistic (701).

Werder with record Werner

Since Ole Werner took over as coach in November 2021, Bremen have dominated the second division. In the 8 games so far, the team is unbeaten (7 wins, 1 draw) and stormed from 10th place to the top of the table. After Ole Werner's team missed out on a record 8 wins in a row last week due to the 1-1 draw against FC Ingolstadt, Bremen have the chance to secure another record against HSV. An away win in the North derby would mean the fifth success in a row in the opponent's stadium. No Bremen coach has ever achieved this before. However, Ole Werner has not managed a win (4 draws) in his 4 previous encounters against HSV. In contrast, HSV coach Tim Walter has only played against Bremen once in his coaching career, but came away victorious in that match.