That victory was important! While the other contenders for third place all played to draws, Werder Bremen used a strong team performance for a deserved victory on the road...
That victory was important! While the other contenders for third place all played to draws, Werder Bremen used a strong team performance for a deserved victory on the road...
That victory was important! While the other contenders for third place all played to draws, Werder Bremen used a strong team performance for a deserved victory on the road, giving a belated birthday present to their coach. Thomas Schaaf, who turned 49 on Friday, surprisingly changed up the system which had been successful the last three games, and he was rewarded with three important points. "That was a masterful piece of tactics. We did not show up with our hurrah offensive system but we adjusted and played a very compact and disciplined defence," said manager Klaus Allofs.
"Schalke were really surprised because they thought we would play offensively and leave some holes. But we stood well. It’s not about the system, but you have to be smart and play – and we did that today," said defender Petri Pasanen. And coach Thomas Schaaf was satisfied with his team’s game. "Of course this is a good result for us. We played as a very disciplined team. Now we are happy to have taken this half-step. There was a lot of pressure put on us, but we had a clear goal in front of us. And in this situation we played very well," said Schaaf.
Werder Bremen can lock up third place with a final victory on the final game day at Weser Stadium with Hamburg coming in for the North Derby. Captain Torsten Frings wasted no time getting his teammates in the mind frame for the task at hand. "I don’t have to tell anybody what we did to Hamburg last season. Now they can hand us one back. But we have everything in our hands and don’t want to let go of it," said Frings. Petri Pasanen put it altogether like this: "Now we have to win the final home game against Hamburg – then we can celebrate with the fans!"
