With their loss in Stuttgart, Werder's season goal of qualifying for the Europa League moved a bit further away - far enough for some Bremen players not to be able to see it Friday night. The 4-1 loss was a...
With their loss in Stuttgart, Werder's season goal of qualifying for the Europa League moved a bit further away - far enough for some Bremen players not to be able to see it Friday night. The 4-1 loss was a...
With their loss in Stuttgart, Werder's season goal of qualifying for the Europa League moved a bit further away - far enough for some Bremen players not to be able to see it Friday night. The 4-1 loss was a heavy setback, which could be seen in every player interview.
"Everyone knew before the game that if we don't win here today we won't have much of a chance for the Europa League. We have failed to pick up so many points in the second half that you just cannot reach your goal like that. Certainly it's still possible but if we play like we did today then I don't believe in it any more," said captain Clemens Fritz disappointedly.
"It hasn't gotten any easier to reach the Europa League now. The rest of the season is pretty challenging and it's not very favourable," said keeper Tim Wiese. "All this talk about optimism changed after this game. Now it's only going to be very difficult. We have to realise that it doesn't look good," added midfielder Marko Marin, who before the game was one of the confident Werder players.
Manager Klaus Allofs also looked at the situation realistically and talked about the consequences on the table from the bitter defeat. "We are not giving up on the Europa Leauge. We want to win the rest of the games. But this foundation makes it difficult to have hopes," said Allofs, who is looking at next season already whether they play internationally or not. "I am looking less at the Europa League and much more at next season. It's clear that we need to make changes. Here in Stuttgart is not the right place to talk about details. But we will work on a team that doesn't have these peaks and valleys. We will soon have a team that can compete at the top again. We made the first steps this season. We have a lot of young players who have developed themselves."
"And if it should happen that we do not reach the international spots, then I have to say, okay, it would have been great. It would make the work easier and quicken the development of the players. But the work ahead of us can be done without the Europa League as well. We will not fall into any dramatic situation or so," added Allofs.
