Werder Bremen will miss three important players for their home match on Saturday against Schalke 04 (kick-off 3:30 p.m). In addition to Lukas Schmitz, Clemens Fritz and Zlatko Junuzovic will also be out of action...
Werder Bremen will miss three important players for their home match on Saturday against Schalke 04 (kick-off 3:30 p.m). In addition to Lukas Schmitz, Clemens Fritz and Zlatko Junuzovic will also be out of action...
Werder Bremen will miss three important players for their home match on Saturday against Schalke 04 (kick-off 3:30 p.m). In addition to Lukas Schmitz, Clemens Fritz and Zlatko Junuzovic will also be out of action.
"We have experienced a lot of positives this season. Schalke is a very compact team that has a lot of options on offence. We know that Schalke can push forward very quickly after winning the ball. Schalke have good players everywhere on the pitch. We have to have good positioning and protect one another," said head coach Thomas Schaaf at the official press conference on Thursday.
Especially bitter is that Lukas Schmitz, Clemens Fritz and most likely Zlatko Junuzovic will not be able to help Werder stop the Schalke express (12 points from their last five matches) on Saturday. "The game is too early for Clemens," said Schaaf about his captain, who only started individual training at the beginning of the week. Schmitz is still dealing with stomach pain and will miss the match against his former team. "Nothing major was found with Lukas. It's a bacterial inflammation which leads to discomfort and pain. That should improve in the coming days. But Lukas cannot and should not train in full yet," said Schaaf, who will be leading his left-back back into the mix "step by step".
The third man who will not be able to play his usual role for the Green-Whites is Junuzovic. "Zladdi was not really able to train this week and was only in the rehab area. His status has continued to improve as he ran for the first time today. But it will be very tight for Saturday, he's more likely to not be there," said Schaaf. Despite missing the trio, Schaaf will have the services again of reserve keeper Richard Strebinger who returned to training on Wednesday after muscular problems.
