Sunday 07 November 2021
A threesome for the trainer too
The “insane” Arminen redeem themselves
It is still a relegation place for Arminia Bielefeld, but the mood is much better than before. Because the first win of the season suggests an upswing. Coach Frank Kramer is out of the line of fire for the time being – and the Bundesliga club can even smile at a typical problem.
Bielefeld’s trainer Frank Kramer expressed his relief to his colleagues, and there were many well-wishers. A week earlier, fans loudly demanded that the 49-year-old be expelled, and now Kramer and his team have justified the loyalty of the club’s officials (for the time being). The 1-0 win at weak VfB Stuttgart should help improve the mood. Arminia Bielefeld had to wait for the first win of the season in the Bundesliga until the eleventh match day. The relief in the relegation battle was accordingly great.
“It was an amazing team spirit, we marched like the insane,” praised Kramer: “I’m incredibly happy for everyone involved.” His words suggest that he was also happy for the club officials, whom he had been grateful for for the vote of confidence. Managing director Samir Arabi had demonstratively stood behind him before the worry duel and declared a coaching discussion to be over, regardless of the result.
The growing criticism from outside did not just bounce off him, Kramer had admitted before the kick-off on Saturday. The winless streak put a bit of a strain on the coach and team, said striker Fabian Klos afterwards: “I’ve been here for a long time, I can handle the pressure, that may not have been that easy for a few other guys,” said the 33rd -Year-olds at Sky.
Stuttgart is up to the Armines
Five points thanks to five draws – that was all the first ten match days. The pressure was great before the performance in Stuttgart. In the worst case, a competitor could have rushed to eight points in the relegation battle. Nevertheless, the club continued to bet on Kramer, who had replaced Uwe Neuhaus in March. Now Arminia is still penultimate before promoted Greuther Fürth, but has fought its way up to two points against VfB and pulled the Swabians deep into the relegation battle.
With “passion” and “heart” (Kramer), the team earned the victory against a VfB, which was badly decimated due to injury. Looking back at the last appearance in Stuttgart had made for nice memories. In the Mercedes-Benz Arena, Arminia managed to stay in the league with a 2-0 win on the last matchday of the preseason. It was the last Bundesliga victory until Saturday.
What does the success do now? The next few weeks will show that, Klos soothed: “For now it’s a great relief,” he said. “I don’t want to press the euphoria brakes now, but there is still room for improvement. We know how difficult it is to keep the class. That was the first step towards it.”
Because of course not everything worked out for the enormously weakened and increasingly uninspired Stuttgarters on the offensive. Masaya Okugawa’s opening goal (19th minute) in the first half fell surprisingly and gave Bielefeld more security. But it showed again why no first division team scored fewer goals. Graduation weakness is a problem.
Arminia could have saved herself nerves in the second half. Andrés Andrade hit the post, Amos Pieper and Janni Serra failed on the crossbar. “I said to our assistant coach: That’s Bielefeld,” said Klos. On the day of the first win of the season, the club was able to accept this with a smile.