Preseason Match Report: Werder Bremen and Lyon (H)

Union play out 11 goal* thriller at the Alte Försterei

Union Fans were treated to goals galore as we witnessed 11 goals in early August sunshine at the Alte Försterei.

*Yes, it was across both men's and women's games, and yes, Union conceded 10 of those 11, but if you want to let fine details get in the way of a good headline, that's on you.

This was certainly a marathon, not a sprint. The club's official season opener consisted of back to back women's and men's games with a squad presentation sandwiched in between.

Werder Bremen: Even first half, less even second half

The women's team welcomed Bundesliga Werder Bremen, while the men entertained Olympique Lyon, or possibly Olympique Marseille.

Bike problems meant I arrived midway through the first half of the women's game to find Bremen one up and really looking a level above Union. 

The Union Frauen are not used to losing, and gamely pulled one back with a delicious effort from Pia Metzger which arced over the Bremen keeper: 1-1 at the break.

In the second half, Union had some good flashes and the Bremen keeper pulled off one memorable stop, clawing the ball back from behind herself when it looked a certain goal, but going the other way Bremen were simply deadly.

Every time they went forward they seemed to score, especially down the right. 

It ended up 6-1 to Bremen as Union heads went down a bit. This must have been their first loss in some time, but given how they romped the league last year it shows the huge gaps between leagues. 

It'll be interesting to see how they get in through the year, and I feel it's a good initiative from the club to play women's games at the Alte Försterei. 

There can't be many women's second division preseason games pulling crowds of what must have been 5 thousand, and it was a good watch. Season tickets for the women's team are also on general sale and they seem very cheap to me, just 55 Euro for members!

Lyon: Even first half, less even second half. Again.

We enjoyed some refreshments while the squads were introduced, before the game against Lyon got underway for the men's team. While it was feeling like a long day in the sun, energy was high as we went through the pre-match rituals,the ground feeling pretty full by this point, officially the attendance was around 12,000. After the summer break it's good to see the scarves out and the songs blasting again.

Christian Arbeit was still in preseason mode as he introduced Olympique Lyon as Olympique Marseille, coming back a few minutes later to apologise. Not that the 30 or so travelling fans seemed too bothered.

Bo ‘Selector’ Svensson (credit to another UBI member for that one) opted for the usual tactic of swapping the full 11 at half time.

Lyon featured timeless Chelsea favourite Nemanja Matic, one-time Arsenal protégé Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and jack-of-all-clubs Said Benrahma in a side featuring vertigo-inducing shirt numbers. A 55, a 69, Maitland-Niles was wearing 98 for pity's sake.

The first half was quite even, Schäfer standing out in a deep midfield role, tackling and recycling and generally up for it. So too Gosens, despite his passing aim being off and pulling his usual trick of being hilariously far forward most of the time.

A word too for young Leopold Querfeld, a name fresh from a Jane Austen novel in the heart of the defence and looking and assured outside of one hairy moment, Vogt also guilty of a similar one.

Juranovic beat the wall but not the keeper with a free kick, before from nothing Juranovic floated in a beautiful cross and found Vertessen leaping like a salmon in the box, looping a header off the bar with the keeper beaten.

Soon though it was Lyon threatening, a flurry of shots kept out by a combination of blocks, Freddie and a superhuman goal-saving header from Gosens. I hope he stays.

The second half was an altogether new team, and in an eerily similar scenario to the women's game, it spectacularly went to shit.

Union initially looked hungry and sharp, Hollerbach doing Hollerbach things, Benes looking classy in the middle, Kemlein also looking alert.

The kid on the left, Preu, looked absolutely electric going forward - all darts and changes of direction and low-centre-of-gravity menace.

I was just remarking on how good he looked when he left Maitland-Niles totally alone to pop up on the right and tap past Schwolow, and something similar happened to let in Traore for Lyon's 4th, which led to some sharp words from the goalkeeper.

In the meantime, Lyon had notched two more courtesy of more lax defending, first letting Lyon's other winger have all the time in the world to curl in from the left before their keeper bagged a ludicrous assist. He simply passied the ball straight through the middle of our defence to the striker who couldn't believe his luck.

It was only pre-season, but as a rather more astute observer than me remarked, we didn't carry much threat and once Lyon realised that, they found it easy to pick us apart on the counter by playing behind our wing backs.

A new season with a number of new faces awaits, but today felt familiar - lots of energy, lots of attempts to go long or wide, not many opportunities, and a curiously soft underbelly.

That said, we look well-stocked at centre back, we have a ton of competition for the two centre midfield berths, and we have a mix of big units and little speedsters up front.

All in all it was just nice to be back in the Alte Försterei with other Unioner, learning how to lose my voice again.

No better place to spend 6 hours on a Saturday.

Eisern!

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by @Union_Berliner