BIELEFELD FACT FILE
Thursday, 19. December 2019, 13:10 Uhr
The Boys in Brown end the year with a home game against Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday (1300 CET). What can they expect from the league leaders? As usual, we've taken a closer look at our forthcoming opponents.
Sharpshooter
In Wehen Wiesbaden's Manuel Schäffler, the league's second-leading striker left his calling card at the Millerntor last week. On Saturday, Arminia Bielefeld will bring the most prolific marksman with them in Fabian Klos, who tops the scoring chart with 13 goals, one ahead of Schäffler on 12. Klos also leads the way in terms of goals and assists, setting up a further five goals for an impressive score of 18 in 16 appearances.
Invincible away
Uwe Neuhaus's side have won only two of their eight home games this season, drawing five while losing just one (by the only goal against Stuttgart). Away from home, however, Arminia have really turned on the style, racking up seven wins and two draws in nine matches, to leave them the only team yet to lose on their travels.
Morale
Like Greuther Fürth, Bielefeld have fallen behind just seven times this season. But while Fürth went on to lose six of those seven, Uwe Neuhaus's side came off second best just once – that 1-0 home defeat against Stuttgart. Arminia salvaged a point on five occasions and eventually ran out comfortable 5-2 winners at Wehen Wiesbaden after conceding an early opener.
Touches
In the ranking of players with the most touches of the ball in the first half of the season, Bielefeld boast three men in the top 10. Joakim Nilsson is eighth with 1,165 touches, Florian Hartherz sixth with 1,199 touches. Somewhat surprisingly, goalkeeper Stefan Ortega Moreno occupies fifth place with 1,234 touches. Stuttgart's Pascal Stenzel (1,949), HSV's Tim Leibold (1,367) and Rick van Drongelen (1,329), and Kiel's Hauke Wahl (1,253) are the only players to play the ball more often than Ortega Moreno.
Passing
Arminia played a total of 8,179 passes in the first half of the season. Their passing has been very assured, with just 1,099 of them failing to find their intended target for an excellent pass completion rate of 86.56 per cent. Only VfB Stuttgart (87.97 per cent) have passed the ball better than Bielefeld.
Effectiveness
Arminia recorded 'only' 239 attempts on goal in the first half of the season to rank a mediocre 11th in this category. In terms of accuracy, however, they lead the way. Their total of 35 goals scored is unmatched by any other team. Bielefeld require just 6.54 attempts to score a goal – the best return in the league ahead of Regensburg (7 attempts per goal) and Aue (7.58).
Endurance
Bielefeld came within a whisker of breaking through the 2,000-kilometre barrier at Heidenheim last time out, clocking up a 'mere' 119.1 km to leave them on 1,999.6 km after 17 matches. The league leaders are thus the best team in the league in terms of running work, too. On average, Uwe Neuhaus's team cover a distance of 117.62 km per game.
Photos: Witters / Eibner
