Bremen continue to tread water in their search for a way out of a steadily growing crisis.
Four days after going down 3-0 at home to Panathinaikos in the Champions League, the German vice-champions were held 0-0 at home by VfL Bochum, leaving them with just one win in their last nine competitive matches and still floundering in no man's land in the league.
Özil red-carded
To make matters worse, midfielder Mesut Özil was sent off six minutes from time following an incident involving Bochum's Tomasz Zdebel.
VfL themselves meanwhile remain winless in eight games, and winless in ten years at home against Werder.
Özil (5.) and playmaker Diego (11.) fired a couple of early warning shots across the Bochum bows but that was the sum total accruing from an early period of Bremen superiority.
Chances but no goals
Torsten Frings missed the best chance of the half, miscuing completely when unmarked ten metres out in the 23rd minute. Bochum's only sniff of goal in the first half came from a shot by Marcin Mieciel (37.) that flew over the bar.
Ever more uncertainty crept into Bremen's play after the break but they continued to have more of the game as well as a degree of bad luck. Captain Frank Baumann put the ball inches wide following a pass from Claudio Pizarro (58.), and four minutes later central defender Naldo crashed a 25-metre free kick against the bar.
Bochum hardly threatened up front themselves, but Christoph Dabrowski did pull an excellent save out of Bremen keeper Tim Wiese with a shot in the 75th minute. Three minutes later Anthar Yahia had another chance for the hosts, flashing a header just wide.
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