The Werder Bremen players were well aware that it was not a normal situation as they gathered at the Weser Stadium on Sunday morning. As had been previously declared, the clubs sporting management had called together the team to meet at the training ground on what had originally been planned as a day off. And Thomas Schaaf had some strong words to hammer home:
“We have failed to get into gear in this second half of the season. We haven’t been getting the results and are now performing poorly too. We have reached a phase in which we are not achieving what we demand from ourselves. There is no way we can return to normal today. You can’t just ignore this kind of situation – we need to query this and work on it.”
On the speech he held with the team, following a detailed video analysis of Saturday’s game, Schaaf stated: “We made it very clear to the team that there are just too many things that we have given away too easily. We’ve thrown away a good position in the table. We lacked the will to do the running, play combination football and switch the pace of the game. In short – we didn’t see the kind of football that we stand for here. The fans had every right to vent their frustration.”
Vice-captain Torsten Frings took a positive look to the future following the team meeting but also knows that nothing will work automatically: “That was a good discussion. It’s important that we don’t just talk though but rather let actions speak - as quickly as possible.”