The Green-Whites have had three weeks to get their thoughts together. Three weeks have passed since the 1:3 defeat at the hands of Olympiacos Piräus that proved so disappointing.
The Green-Whites have had three weeks to get their thoughts together. Three weeks have passed since the 1:3 defeat at the hands of Olympiacos Piräus that proved so disappointing.
The Green-Whites have had three weeks to get their thoughts together. Three weeks have passed since the 1:3 defeat at the hands of Olympiacos Piräus that proved so disappointing. Three weeks to work out the permutations, analyse the situation and recall the successful Champions League of two years ago when all seemed lost. Three weeks are now at an end and Werder have had enough of commenting on their position at the foot of Group C. Wednesday offers Werder the chance to put things to right as they take on AS Lazio Rome. It’s time to have actions do the talking: “There is no need to continue talking about it, tomorrow we need to win and that’s how we will go into the game. We have laid out our cards and we know what we have to do”, explained Torsten Frings very clearly. Following the teams final pre-match training session, Tim Borowski added his ore: “We have no need to make any more comments on what we can allow and what we can’t. The only thing that counts is that we take all three points tomorrow evening.”
Trainer Thomas Schaaf is happy with the attitude of his team and supports it openly: “Of course the game in Madrid could have ended differently had we taken the lead and there is no doubt that there was a lot more available to us against Piräus. We can’t focus on that now, what we need are points.”
The Bremen club know that it will be no easy task and expect to be faced with a defensively minded Lazio side: “Italian teams are well known for that. They will sit back and wait for us to make mistakes”, prophesised vice-captain Frings who is demanding 100% concentration from his team mates: “We can’t afford to make so many unnecessary mistakes and instead look for holes in the Rome guard.”
Werder’s midfield engine doesn’t believe that the largest of these holes could be the aging 43 year old Lazio keeper: “He wouldn’t be in goal in the Champions League without a reason. If he wasn’t a good keeper they wouldn’t play him”, explained Frings, who is more interested on focusing on his own teams performances that picking out the chinks in his opponent’s chain. Much will rest on the German internationals shoulders, with trainer Schaaf expecting a big performance from one of his most experienced players: “Torsten is extremely important. He can get things rolling in a game whilst being there to support his team mates. Having come back from injury, it is clear to see that he is gaining in strength and that the routine is returning to his game.”
The trainer will be very happy with recent personnel developments. The involvement of Clemens Fritz (ankle problem) and Hugo Almeida (flu) in Tuesday’s training means that the coach will have his complete 18 man squad, consisting almost entirely of current internationals, available for a Champions League game this season. The squad consists of: Wiese, Vander, Pasanen, Naldo, Baumann, Vranjes, Fritz, Rosenberg, Diego, Tosic, Andreasen, Sanogo, Jensen, Frings, Almeida, Borowski, Mertesacker, Harnik.
The Italians themselves have been somewhat tight-lipped ahead of the Wednesday night clash at the Weser Stadium. Their press conference was a short lived affair with nothing new to report from the Lazio camp. The Rome clubs coach did have one remark to make about his opposite number: “He has more international experience than I do. He has either had more luck with the club or works better. He has been at his club a long time where as I keep getting the sack”, joked the coach.
