As mask man Patrick Wimmer started for Arminia on Saturday. Initially successful, but then the performance came to an abrupt end. Apparently the face shield was not a perfect custom-made one.
Worth all the effort seemed to be what the Bielefeld team had done during the week to make Patrick Wimmer fit to play against Wolfsburg on Saturday. On Tuesday, the Austrian, handicapped by a facial injury sustained in the previous match in Stuttgart, was still waiting for his special mask with which he wanted to start the match at the weekend.
In the remaining sessions, they rehearsed how it could work for Wimmer with the protection – always with the hope of achieving a “precision landing “ against VfL, as Frank Kramer had put it in the run-up.
It seemed to work, Wimmer was in the starting eleven. His coach must have been ecstatic when the 20-year-old dynamically cut through after just eleven minutes and set up Masaya Okugawa, who promptly scored the 1:0 lead. But the game soon got out of hand and came to an abrupt end when Wimmer signalled his substitution to the outside world.
During the game he then put the thing down. I don’t know what influenced it and how. In any case, it totally disturbed him.
“I’m not a doctor or an optician “, said Kramer afterwards, explaining why masked man Wimmer only played 28 minutes. “The field of vision is somewhat restricted and that is of course irritating somewhere. During the game he took it off. I don’t know what influenced that and how. In any case, it totally disturbed him.” Wimmer had just had problems, and then it made no sense to continue playing. “Anything that is not one hundred per cent is not possible for us in the Bundesliga. So it made more sense to bring in a fresh man. “
Fernandes substitution a weakening
Edimilson Fernandes came into the team for Wimmer after just half an hour – undoubtedly a weakening for the Bielefeld side. The Swiss was neither able to make his mark up front like his predecessor, nor was his defensive work on his side able to prevent Wolfsburg from breaking through decisively twice and eventually levelling Arminia’s 2-0 advantage.
Wimmer, shooting star this season for the East Westphalians and together with Fabian Klos the most effective offensive player (four scorer points) was sorely missed. Kramer is encouraging for Bielefeld’s performance at FC Bayern next Saturday: “We have a week until the next game. By then he can certainly get used to the mask a bit more.” In any case, the face shield does not seem to have been perfectly custom-made yet, as Kramer hints: “Maybe we can tweak the mask a bit so that it fits a little better. “