Werder Bremen has been waiting for a win since the beginning of November. Nevertheless, Clemens Fritz ruled out parting ways with coach Horst Steffen—at least until Saturday.
The boos at the Weser Stadium on Tuesday evening after the 0-2 defeat to Hoffenheim, the ninth winless game in a row, were impossible to ignore. But although there is turmoil outside the club, those in charge remain calm. “We are aware of the situation we are in. Despite all this, we remain calm internally,” said managing director Clemens Fritz.
Accordingly, he is not letting himself be swayed by the loud criticism, but is trusting in the path he has chosen. When asked whether coach Horst Steffen would also be on the Bremen bench on Saturday against Gladbach, he replied with a decisive “yes.” He also provided his reasoning for the decision.
“I see how Horst and his coaching team work intensively day after day, how they repeatedly come up with solutions. And that’s the key,” explained the 45-year-old. The coach himself clearly feels this support and says he is not “afraid.” Instead of fearing dismissal, his mind is dominated by a vision of the future.
“This idea that at some point we’ll stand there and say: ‘Look, what a difficult start we had, but we got through it together and achieved a good result for Werder.’ That’s my goal,” explained Steffen.
Werder has failed to score in five of its last six games
For this to happen, he and his players must work above all on their offensive power. Against Hoffenheim, Werder failed to score for the fifth time in its last six games – despite having a man advantage for more than 40 minutes, including injury time. Werder played nervously, too hectically, and made countless simple passing errors, meaning they were only able to create a few clear scoring chances.
From Fritz’s point of view, however, the uncertainty also resulted from the 0-2 goal, which came just two minutes after Wouter Burger’s red card. “That shouldn’t happen,” said the sporting director. This “kind of knocked the wind out of his team’s sails.”
There is no time to lift the players’ spirits. An important game is coming up on Saturday, with two games against Freiburg and FC Bayern to follow. “This is a match where we can say that we are facing an opponent who is on a par with us and not from the top of the table, so the probability of us scoring points is higher,” explained Steffen. To avoid having to answer questions about his future again, he needs to turn the tide there.
