There were surely a few raised eyebrows amoung the 5,000 travelling Werder bremen fans at the AWD-Arena in Hanover at the weekend as the starting eleven were announced with trainer Thomas Schaaf pulling a number of surprises out of his hat.
There were surely a few raised eyebrows amoung the 5,000 travelling Werder bremen fans at the AWD-Arena in Hanover at the weekend as the starting eleven were announced with trainer Thomas Schaaf pulling a number of surprises out of his hat.
There were surely a few raised eyebrows amoung the 5,000 travelling Werder bremen fans at the AWD-Arena in Hanover at the weekend as the starting eleven were announced with trainer Thomas Schaaf pulling a number of surprises out of his hat. The trio of captain Frank Baumann, Miroslav Klose and Leon Andreasen found themselves on the bench with Jurica Vranjes, Nelson Valdez and frank Fahrenhorst, for the first time this season, getting the nod from begin on.
Werder opted to bow to the pressure of several games in a short time period - a so called 'English Week'. "Due to the physical demands upon us in recent weeks, we pay close attention in training to who could do with a break. That's why we have such a strong squad", commented general manager Klaus Allofs.Trainer Thomas Schaaf defended each individual involved: "Despite the demands, we are determined that everyone gives 100% and that's why we decided today was time to make some changes. Miroslav Klose recovered from flu and returned to form very quickly and playing two games but he didn't look fresh in his last training session. Frank Baumann put on a great display in Udine and needed a time out. Leon Andreasen had some muscular problems yesterday so I left him on the bench." The early substitution of playmaker Johan Micoud was down to the same reason. "He's had recent problems with both thighs but we'd already made three changes, we couldn't change the whole team", admitted Allofs.
The fact that these changes would mean not everything flowing smoothly was clear in the first half: "We didn't have the usual stability in our combination play today", analysed Klaus Allofs. Torsten Frings added: "We were strong at the back but we've got to work now to insure we don't loose our threat moving forward which was the problem in the last two games." Thomas Schaaf also saw room for improvement in the offensive areas: "There was definately more in it for us but the ease in getting our shotd away was missing, we'll have to work on that."
Torsten Fings on the teams performance: "This style is quite o.k for an away game. We had the chance to score a goal - if Miro had have scored with his big chance we would have won 1:0 and have done everything right."
Werders backroom vehemently denied changing their tactics to go from classy football to calculated point collection. Thomas Schaaf: "That's complete nonsense. We want to win in the future too but it doesn't always work out perfectly - we played good football and are not crazy enough to want to change something there. We must come to understand in Bremen that you can't steamroll everyone you play and score six goals - there will always be games which are decided late on." Klaus Allofs supported his coach: "A 6:2 result won't become the norm in the future either but we don't have a new Werder style. Getting forward is not going to be banned. We had big chances today too. Nelson hit the post and had a great headed chance after a cross from Patrick Owomoyela. In the second half, Miro did everything right but the ball bounced out off the post."
There was a deal of disappointment to be felt throughout the Werder ranks due to just picking up the one point. Torsten Frings made clear: "If a side, like us, have ambitions of winning the title, then we have to win such games. Real top teams often win back to back games 1:0. " Nelson Valdez agrees: "It is disappointing, if we want to stay top and only pick-up one point, that's not so great." Klaus Allofs added: "Getting knocked off the top spot wasn't the problem today, it was losing two points on Bayern and that against a beatable side." Some Werder players could see a positive side to losing the top spot. Nelson Valdez: "It's easier to attack from behind and that's a lot of fun too." Torsten Frings continued: "Maybe the roll of the hunter is better for us than the roll of the hunted."
Johnnie Muldoon
