Philipp Bargfrede and Nils Petersen both trained with the team on Thursday but they did not know afterwards if they will be back on the game squad on Saturday against Hoffenheim (kick-off 3:30 p.m.). Head coach Robin Dutt...
Philipp Bargfrede and Nils Petersen both trained with the team on Thursday but they did not know afterwards if they will be back on the game squad on Saturday against Hoffenheim (kick-off 3:30 p.m.). Head coach Robin Dutt...
Philipp Bargfrede and Nils Petersen both trained with the team on Thursday but they did not know afterwards if they will be back on the game squad on Saturday against Hoffenheim (kick-off 3:30 p.m.). Head coach Robin Dutt shined a bit more light on the situation at the press conference following training, namely that Bargfrede and Petersen both have legitimate hopes of playing.
"Nils is training really well again, you don't really sense anything. Therefore I am pretty confident that it would be enough for the squad. If he feels fit enough after the last session, I really wouldn't want to do without him," said Dutt at the press conference.
But a game squad nomination would still be a bit of a surprise considering Werder's number 24 suffered a partial right knee ligament tear about five weeks ago. The healing went better than planned and Petersen returned to team training on Wednesday - and that pain-free.
The coach was a bit more reserved about Bargfrede. Dutt would actually kind of leave it partially up to Bargfrede himself. "With Philipp, the injury history is a bit longer than with Nils because he was out a lot longer. And I have to see how he reacts physically to the stress. I have arranged with him that we will talk again after the final session to see how he feels. We will decide together if we can take him," said Dutt.
The final training session before the players head out to Hoffenheim will take place Friday behind closed doors. Then Petersen and Bargfrede will finally know for certain if they have chances of playing on Saturday.
