With the exception of a short period at 1. FC Union Berlin, Holger Wehlage was a Werder Bremen player between 2001 and 2004. Following his time in Bremen, Wehlage moved on to MSV Duisburg and Rot-Weiss Essen before making the move to Eintracht Braunschweig this summer. In an interview with www.werder.de, the 3 year old spoke about his new club, his time at Werder and the DFB Cup clash between Eintracht Braunschweig and the Green-Whites.
Mr. Wehlage, you moved from Rot-Weiss Essen to Eintracht Braunschweig The current season is just two match days old but can you tell us the a little about life at your new club?
My first impressions are very positive. With the exception of four players it’s a completely new team which means it will take time for things to click together. We are headed in the right direction to achieve our goals.
Your teams season has started with two defeats (0:1 kickers Emden, 2:3 Wolfsburg II). Why are you still having problems?
With so many new players we have to get used to playing together. It’s a very young side too. We are not harmonising the way we’d expected to but we are working on it every day to achieve a positive result as soon as possible.
Could things slot into place against Werder?
We basically have no chance against Werder and so we want to use that. Bremen are clear favourites despite having a number of injuries but anything is possible in the cup. We want to put up a fight for the sake of our fans, get stuck into every challenge and we’ll see then what happens.
How would you go about breaking down Bremen?
We have to win our individual battles and get the ball forward quickly – Bremen unfortunately don’t have any weak points.
On Saturday you will be facing your former club – does that stir any emotions?
It’s always something special to play against an ex-club but I’m not overly motivated or anything like that. I have great memories of Bremen – I’ll never forget winning the double. It was a fantastic time and I’m looking forward to the reunion.
In pre-season preparations you played against Werder with Essen and lost 5:0, not really a good omen is it?
You can’t compare a friendly in pre-season with a cup tie. When there is a meaning to the match then it’s a different issue. We’ll try to do better than that in Braunschweig.”
Johnnie Muldoon