Werder Prove The Strenght Of Their Morale Against A Partizan Belgrade

First Team
Thursday, 21.07.2005 / 14:03

To great relief, Werder Bremen beat Partizan Belgrade 3:1 on Wednesday night, a result which pleased trainer Thomas Schaaf on more than one level. Not only did the team prove their morale, turning a 1:0 half time defecit into a 3:1 win with the aid of an enormous boost in the quality of their performance. The coach was also pleased that nothing more serious happened in a game which was to be played roughly, leading to several heated clashes. This was most clearly displayed in the 90th minute when bulk of both sides literally got in each others hair and referee Thomas Gangl decided to end the match instead of issuing cautions.

To great relief, Werder Bremen beat Partizan Belgrade 3:1 on Wednesday night, a result which pleased trainer Thomas Schaaf on more than one level. Not only did the team prove their morale, turning a 1:0 half time defecit into a 3:1 win with the aid of an enormous boost in the quality of their performance. The coach was also pleased that nothing more serious happened in a game which was to be played roughly, leading to several heated clashes. This was most clearly displayed in the 90th minute when bulk of both sides literally got in each others hair and referee Thomas Gangl decided to end the match instead of issuing cautions.

 

The Austrian Bundesliga referee was not without blame for the chaos, flashing an unusually high number of yellow cards for a friendly match and even one red card for Torsten Frings to add fuel to the fire. After the game Frings explained what led to his sending off: "From a seemingly clearly offside position for Belgrade, the referee allowed play to continue. Jurica Vranjes shouted after the referee that it was offside, to which the referee responded that he should keep quiet. I then retorted by saying that Jurica was talking quite normally." This was reason enough for referee Gangl to give Frings his marching orders. The only positive side of this was the fact that as this was only a friendly, the card will have no further repercussions. "The referee guaranteed us that Torsten will be available to play in the League Cup on Saturday", explained General manager Klaus Allofs.

 

Allofs: "Good for morale"

 

Klaus Allofs explained the aggressive style of the Serbs: "Naturally the Partizan players had a jump on us fitness-wise. as they've been in training longer. A game of this nature is an opportunity for these guys to present themselves with a view to a move to a more attractive league." For this reason, Allofs was all the more satisfied with the manner in which his side got back into his game in the second half. "When a group of players have to work together to succeed together, that sticks with them. It's a good feeling to have beaten such a strong and aggressive side with just ten man. This result was very good for our morale", enthused Allofs.

 

Striker Miroslav Klose was of a similar opinion which pleased him on a personal level too: "I took a bad knock in the first half which really stung me", admitted the striker. The national striker came out for the second half all guns blazing and it was his equaliser which began the turn around. Werder took a leaf from their opponents book in the second 45 minutes: "The whole team approached the second half more aggressively. We saw that that was the only way we were going to have any success on the night. It was a taste of what we've got to expect in the Champions League", warned Klose. The Serbian champions will also compete during this stage of qualifying.

 

Ligament damage for Owomoyela

 

Nelson Valdez, scorer of Werders winning third goal had another explanation for Werders improved performance: "Following the two defeats to second division sides, we wanted to prevent a recurrance and really fired ourselves up for the second half." Klaus Allofs was pleased to see his boys roll up their sleeves: "They showed a will to win and you could tell they were playing under one motto, 'We're not losing today!!'".

 

The only dampner was the forced substitution of new signing Patrick Owomoyela with ankle ligament damage which will keep him out for at least a couple of days. The German international won't miss too much with an afternoon off planned for Thursday when the squad will take a cable car trip together. A well earned rest after a week of difficult tests.

Weitere News

Your web browser ist outdated.
The web browser you are using is no longer supported.
Please download one of these free and up to date browsers.
Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge
Chrome Firefox Edge
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
MS Edge
Why should I use an up to date web browser?
Security
Newer web browsers provide better protection against malware, data theft and other threats to your privacy and security. Up to date browsers continuously close security holes that allow attackers to enter your computer.
New Technologies
The technologies used on modern websites are better supported by newer web browsers. This both increases functionality and improves the website layout. By benefiting from new functions and extensions you will be able to surf the web faster and easier.