Werder Bremen’s first team squad began their first team training on the island of Norderney. The training session could only be carried out on the ‘B-Pitch’ from the ‘Sportplatzes an der Mühle’ as the main practice area had suffered under the extreme rain in recent days, leaving parts of the pitch flooded. Schaaf is hopeful that conditions will improve over the next few days.
Frings, Baumann, Mertesacker & Co. will remain on the East Fresian island until this coming Sunday where they have set up quarters at the ‘Golf Hotel Norderney’. “Here we have a great tradition and have set the groundwork for our success here for many years now”, commented Thomas Schaaf.
On Monday morning the whole pre-season preparation period got underway with a team fitness test before they all headed off to Norderney. Thomas Schaaf discussed the training programme and his hopes for the coming season before making the journey.
The players on Norderney:
We have five players missing for the beginning of training. The Brazilians Naldo and Diega are still away with their national team at the Copa America in Venezuela. Martin Harnik is playing with the Austria side at the under 20 Wold Cup in Canada. Hugo Almeida played with the Portuguese under 21’s in the European Championships so he won’t be there from the start and Ivan Klasnic is still out of action. We want to put a good preparation programme together so we’ve made up the numbers with some of our reserves who will want to take the opportunity to prove themselves. We will have a 26 man squad for the trip to Norderney with a number of reserves included.
The training programme:
We’ve got to find our feet first. On Norderney the focus will be on strength and endurance where as in Bad Ragaz we will concentrate on speed, studied moves and tactical things. Maybe by then one or two others will have joined us which would mean we could work together more actively.
The pace of preparation:
It’s all about getting stuck in right from the beginning, not just in the Bundesliga but from today. We have a programme arranged and no time to lose. It starts now!! We did some fitness tests this morning so we’re waiting for those results. Tonight we begin and then tomorrow morning it will be an early start in the fresh sea air. Holiday time is over.
Pre-season friendlies:
Of course it’s true that you can begin playing together and getting used to that without being punished for every mistake. The demands will then be increased. We will begin against Pewsum and then raise the bar. We will then see how we do in the League Cup. In one way we want to challenge ourselves but on the other hand we want to get used to playing together. That’s what the pre-season preparation is all about – we have an interesting programme.
Miroslav Klose’s departure:
A player with the quality of Miroslav Klose cannot be just replaced. We will now have to see to it that we build the confidence of the players we have here and give them the chance to play their way into an important roll in the team. Then they can improve themselves and produce the sort of quality to make the side, if that doesn’t work it would be the right move to look for a player who already possesses these qualities or is closer to them.
The return of Leon Andreasen:
We allowed him to go away on a loan deal to get some match practice and develop his game further. He did that very well in Mainz and became a leading player. He got to know the league better and hopefully he will do the same with us now. We took him back because we believe he is the sort of player who can bring us further with his dynamic style, his will to play and his ambition. We belive he can come along further here too.
Goals for the season:
On the whole we were happy with our performance last season. It’s important that we don’t allow the order we found to flitter away. We’ll have to see where we can add the cream to the cake. We want to stick to our guns and continue to play good football. We plan to maintain the enthusiasm of our fans, celebrate with them and see to it that they get to enjoy some exciting games. If we want to win a title we are going to have to improve. We will have to show our determination from the outset.
The championship favourites:
Firstly you would have to consider the title holders. VfB Stuttgart will wish to defend their title and I can imagine they will be there or there abouts. I imagine those who were among the top group last season will be there again this time around. There are also a number of teams who were dissatisfied with the position they finished in last season and they will want to improve their standing. I think it will be an exciting season.
Bayern’s shopping tour:
Bayern really added to the quality of their squad with the transfers they’ve made but they will have to expect a lot of tough competition. The buys that Bayern have made will do the Bundesliga good.
Strengthening the team for the new season:
I’m very sure that we will be presenting a very strong side this season. We have a good squad as it is but we will be keeping our eyes open to see if we can spot one or two interesting players to add to the team.
Injury worries:
I hope to have all players on board by the start of the season and then, at the same time, also hope we don’t have as many injuries to worry about. That alone would bring an improvement compared to last season.