Four matches without a loss, the last three without conceding a goal and two wins in a row - Werder Bremen are currently playing their best football of the season...
Four matches without a loss, the last three without conceding a goal and two wins in a row - Werder Bremen are currently playing their best football of the season...
Four matches without a loss, the last three without conceding a goal and two wins in a row - Werder Bremen are currently playing their best football of the season. SVW stood stable defensively against Nuremberg and coolly used their chances on offence. But the strong performances against direct competitors in the relegation fight are not a coincidence. They are a signal that lots of things are going well along the Weser at the moment.
"I cannot remember a time here where players had to even stay home because we had more healthy players than roster spots. You can tell that in the games as well when you can bring more quality from the bench," said Zlatko Junuzovic looking back to last Saturday. Clemens Fritz, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Eljero Elia, Cedrick Makiadi and Felix Kroos were five established Bundesliga players who were on the reserve bench in Nuremberg. And the substitutions of Makiadi and Gebre Selassie and the resulting change of system brought back the necessary stability and compactness to Werder's game against Hamburg and Nuremberg.
And starting off the week, Santiago Garcia and his partial tear of his right knee ligament is the only injured player out of training. Philipp Bargfrede and Aleksandar Ignjovski worked out individually and Ludovic Obraniak was excused for private reasons.
In addition to avoiding injuries, the good mood within the team and the absolute focus on the coming tasks are essential in the fight for the points. "Of course the spirit is very good at the moment. But we are a long way from being through. We want to increase the cushion above the lower ranks as quickly as possible and we're not slowing down at all," said Junuzovic.
