Patience is needed: Hope for Almeida, 'Piza' and Arnautovic

First Team
Friday, 26.11.2010 / 16:41

Things are in place for an exciting North Derby against St. Pauli with a sold-out Weser Stadium crowd of 36,400; visible advances in the roof construction of the new east curve...

Things are in place for an exciting North Derby against St. Pauli with a sold-out Weser Stadium crowd of 36,400; visible advances in the roof construction of the new east curve; and a weather god which looks to be a football fan on Sunday afternoon. The main question at the moment is what Werder’s roster will look like. This much is clear: Torsten Frings will return and Philipp Bargfrede is out, according to head coach Thomas Schaaf.

 

Waiting to be seen is if Daniel Jensen will be part of the Green-Whites’ squad on the weekend. Schaaf said during the Friday press conference ahead of the 14th game day that Jensen "could not do anything more than ride the bike". The Danish international had to leave the Champions League match in London early due to knee problems.

 

Patience is also needed at the moment for Werder strikers Marko Arnautovic and Hugo Almeida, who only completed individual workouts on the training grounds Friday morning and could not take part in team training. "We have to see if the situation for them improves and cannot say until then if they are an option for the squad for Sunday or not," said Schaaf, who will be waiting until after Saturday’s final training. And there remains a big question mark about the availability of Claudio Pizarro. The Peruvian striker was once again able to complete a light running training but could not participate in team training on Friday.

 

Mikael Silvestre meanwhile will definitely be unavailable on Sunday. "His pains have not yet subsided enough that he can play," said Schaaf, who will once again call upon U23 players Dominik Schmidt and Felix Kroos against St. Pauli. The young duo will be unavailable for Werder’s third division side Friday night against Bayern Munich II.

 

Schaaf was especially pleased with the promising performance of the replacement left back Dominik Schmidt. "What Dominik showed on Wednesday was just really classy. He used his chance to show his skill in a competition like the Champions League. I was really pleased about that," said the 49-year-old coach, who added that Schmidt "must now confirm what he already showed".

 

It remains however unclear if he will get the chance on Sunday. Manager Klaus Allofs said the most important thing right now is "presentable results". And all Werder fans are hoping for that on Sunday. Allofs made clear once again how important the 12th man will be for the team in their fight for three points. "The support from our fans in London was sensational. But now the players must reciprocate that and show a positive signal. This is not a one-way street," said Allofs.

 

 

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