Mike Tullberg and Ole Werner offer differing takes on Borussia Dortmund-Werder Bremen draw | OneFootball

Saturday’s 2-2 Bundesliga draw with Werder Bremen saw Borussia Dortmund gain their first competitive point of the new calendar year. BVB interim trainer Mike Tullberg sought to emphasise the importance of this fact at the post-match presser, taking special care to highlight the circumstances surrounding the match.

Dortmund found themselves disadvantaged by an injury to midfielder Felix Nmecha in the 12th minute. Some nine minutes later, Nico Schlotterbeck was shown a straight red card. Despite these two occurrences, the hosting Westphalians were able to rush out to a 2-0 lead.

Serhou Guirassy headed home in the 28th. Shortly after the restart, an own-goal from Werder skipper Marco Friedl put Dortmund up 2-0. Bremen only fought their way back in the final 25 minutes, snatching a 2-2 draw via goals from Leonardo Bittencourt and Marvin Ducksch.

Borussia Dortmund’s Mike Tullberg remained satisfied

“The lads marched forward despite [Nico Schlotterbeck’s] red card,” the interim head coach remarked at the presser, “We defended the spaces undermanned relatively well until the 1-2. We could have done better in transition and scored the 3-0.

“We became a little lost and didn’t clear the ball properly. I can’t go berating the lads. They gave everything after several English weeks.

“It’s important for me to emphasise that there were more positives than negatives after this game,” Tullberg went on. “We played shorthanded for 60 minutes and got a point out of it.

“Of course we would have liked to win the game after leading 2-0, but I can’t ascribe blame to anyone. When it rains it pours. There was an injury. There was a red card twenty minutes in.

“One thinks to oneself, this can’t be happening,” Tullberg concluded. “But we weren’t in the mood to make any excuses and the lads showed that.”

Speaking on his few days in charge, Tullberg praised the players under his command for showing him several positive trends. The coach specifically referenced “attitude, body language, and the courage to distribute the ball in a forward oriented fashion.”

Werder trainer Ole Werner naturally had a different take on matters.

Understandably, Bremen’s head coach couldn’t declare himself satisfied with earning just a single point after 70 minutes with the man-advantage. The fact that Dortmund scored two goals with ten-men also proved particularly irksome.

“On and off the ball, it wasn’t successful from us,” Werner said at the presser. “We didn’t bring the requisite energy to the pitch. We were too error prone even with the man-advantage.”

“We didn’t seek to move the opponent. We remained in one half and played too passively. That’s how Dortmund rushed out to a deserved 2-0 lead.”

Werner did find praise for the three players (Issa Kaboré, Justin Njinmah, and Leonardo Bittencourt) that he subbed on after the hour mark. Bittencourt pulled the first goal back just four minutes after his introduction. In general, the Hanseaten played more like a team up a man.

“I was naturally very satisfied with the last half-hour,” Werner said. “I tip my hat to the players and pay compliments to those players who came on as subs. They gave us the impetus we needed and one could feel that.

“We earned a point and it’s thus not a bad result, but the first 60 minutes weren’t at all satisfactory to me. The team at least demonstrated morale in the final 30 minutes.”

GGFN | Peter Weis