Head coach Thomas Schaaf will have to make do without two more top players against Hoffenheim. Already out of the road match were Naldo, who is serving the first game of his suspension after his red card...
Head coach Thomas Schaaf will have to make do without two more top players against Hoffenheim. Already out of the road match were Naldo, who is serving the first game of his suspension after his red card...
Head coach Thomas Schaaf will have to make do without two more top players against Hoffenheim. Already out of the road match were Naldo, who is serving the first game of his suspension after his red card last week against Bayern Munich, and Clemens Fritz, who left the German DFB Cup match against Wolfsburg with a thigh muscle problem. And now the Green-Whites will be without Mesut Özil (knee capsule injury) and Torsten Frings (stiffness in back of thigh) for the game on Saturday, 7 March 2009 in Rhein-Neckar Arena.
Replacing players in the last minute is nothing new for Thomas Schaaf. "Of course you as coach are always happy when everyone is on board, like in the past couple weeks. You always want that situation, but it almost never happens that way," said Schaaf. "Injuries are always aggravating. But we hope that Clemens, Torsten and Mesut are only out a couple of days. And we have no influence on Naldo's suspension."
But the coach can on Saturday turn to one player who has been out injured of late. German international keeper Tim Wiese has recovered from his torn muscle and will again man Werder's goal for the first time since the first leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 16 against AC Milan on 18 February 2009.
Head coach Thomas Schaaf hopes the following 18 players can continue the positive trend of the past couple weeks: Wiese, Pellatz – Boenisch, Pasanen, Tosic, Baumann, Vranjes, Rosenberg, Diego, Hunt, Prödl, Tziolis, Jensen, Almeida, Pizarro, Niemeyer, Mertesacker, Harnik
