Schaaf Reviews An Emotional Season

First Team
Wednesday, 23.05.2007 / 11:56

Three days after Werder Bremen’s final game against VfL Wolfsburg, trainer Thomas Schaaf looked back on what he could see as a positive season, if without the just rewards that may have sweetened some of the bitter after taste.

Three days after Werder Bremen’s final game against VfL Wolfsburg, trainer Thomas Schaaf looked back on what he could see as a positive season, if without the just rewards that may have sweetened some of the bitter after taste. “You have to split a review like this into two categories. There is the emotional side of things, which reminds us that we have come out of the season basically empty handed – no major trophies have been endowed upon the team. But on the other hand there are the facts, which may show that not everything went exactly according to plan but also that we managed some great results and achieved a great deal.”

 

Schaaf’s list of the positive aspects is quite a long one: “With the league cup we immediately picked up the first available silverware of the season. As far as the league title is concerned, we were still in the running until the penultimate match day – and the same goes for the UEFA Cup.” Schaaf also noted the disappointment of the early DFB Cup exit: “That applies to the DFB Cup whether you go out in the first round or at the final hurdle, nothing in between really helps much.”

 

For the coach though, the absolute highlights of the season were the performances in European competition: “We had 14 international appearances and without a doubt, we played a sensational round in the Champions League. It would have been simply unbelievable if we’d progressed from that group. I used the word sensational because we finished that group on ten points. In many other groups that would have been enough to qualify for the next round”, explained Scaaf impulsively.

 

To conclusively evaluate the whole season, the coach was eager to point to the clubs prerequisite during the previous summer. “If we look back on the situation pre-season, we really had a lot to worry about. Everything was focused on the World Cup. We came to the conclusion that we would have just make it through to the winter break, without knowing if the three week rest would really be enough to save us.”

 

Thomas Shaaf was impressed by the manner in which his team approached the problematic involved: “With the exception of Torsten Frings, all of the lads participating in the World Cup had problems and injuries. We had six players taking part in the first round of games still suffering from the effects of the summer tournament and four of those players were involved in every World Cup round. For that reason, we were very surprised as to how well we started the season.”

 

Despite being top of the pile by the time of the winter break, the trainer knows his men were pushed to their very limits: “On an emotional level, we played a fantastic first round but looking under the surface it’s also clear to see we had our ups and downs too. We had defeats away to Stuttgart and Schalke as well as being beaten 3:1 at home by Dortmund. Our competitors had their problems too and we were able to pick up points at just the right time to keep ourselves on top of the pack. We didn’t manage that after the break. We lacked the sort of freshness that Stuttgart were oozing.”

 

The, at times, extremely tense situation could barely be hidden: “Above all during the second round of games we had a weakened squad and we were left travelling to international games with 15 or 16 players, including youngsters like Kevin Schindler and Amaury Bishoff. We had five players who missed almost a complete round of games. The likes of Borowski, Mertesacker, Owomoyela, Baumann and Klasnic are not just names that make up the reserve squad.”

 

Schaaf’s conclusion: “We were playing at our absolute limit considering our personnel situation. By the end of the first round we had played 34 games, by the end of the season it was 51. No other Bundesliga side played as many matches. Then there were also players who had up to ten national appearances to boot. When that is taken into account, we performed very admirably.”

 

The coach is wary of the fact that there could be a similar state of affairs next season. In the coming weeks there will be Werder players involved in the Under 19 European Championship, the Under 20 World Cup, the Under 21 European Championships and the Copa America: “Again everything piled into the summer period when the players are supposed to be on holiday. That’s going to take its toll on the younger players.”

 

Still the coach is looking forward to getting back into work for the next season: “We definitely want to get back into the Champions League, go to Berlin in the DFB Cup and defend our League cup title. We will at the same time be doing all in our power to stay up amongst them in the Bundesliga”, remarked Schaaf.

 

There was one particular player that Schaaf didn’t want to leave unmentioned in his review of the season. The trainer reckons the Brazilian Diego has been one of the shining lights of the last twelve months: “We have, with him, one of the most distinctive figures of the Bundesliga season. He is a fantastic footballer who has fit into the team sensationally”, glowed Schaaf who is hoping to see his playmaker return fit and healthy from the Copa America where he will represent Brazil.

 

Johnnie Muldoon

 

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