Werder Bremen 2007/2008

Just need a good striker and you are nearly done.

I don't know much about him, but congrats.

So what do you expect the first XI to look like this year?

We need a striker, like Dark Savante correctly says. I'd really prefer us to sign Nilmar, but Corinthians are in a mess now, and his contract situation is not clear at all. We are linked to a great number of strikers, nobody really knows who we are going to sign in the end.

Calidad, you should know Carlos Alberto if you watched the CL final of 2004, which Porto won against Monaco. CA scored the first goal in the final for Porto.

How our first XI will look like is actually a very good question. With CA, we now have additional tactical variability, because he is a very versatile attacking allrounder, can play behind the strikers, on the wings or as second striker even.

A very attacking version of our traditional diamond 4-4-2 system, e.g. against weaker sides (Mr.X = new striker):

Code:


------------Wiese-----------
Fritz-Mertesacker-Naldo-Womé
-----------Frings-----------
--Alberto---------Borowski--
-----------Diego------------
-----Mr. X----Rosenberg-----

Same system, but less attacking, e.g. in European away matches, CA as second striker:

Code:


------------Wiese-----------
Fritz-Mertesacker-Naldo-Womé
----------Baumann-----------
--Frings----------Borowski--
-----------Diego------------
------Alberto---------------
---------Rosenberg (Mr.X)---

A non-4-4-2 formation I'd like us to try, because it has a lot of potential (on paper at least); 4-2-3-1 system:

Code:


------------Wiese-----------
Fritz-Mertesacker-Naldo-Womé
------Frings-Andreasen------
--Alberto--Diego--Borowski--
------Rosenberg (Mr. X)-----

And finally, a (very attacking) 4-3-3:

Code:


------------Wiese-----------
Fritz-Mertesacker-Naldo-Womé
-----------Frings-----------
------Diego---Borowski------
-Alberto---------------Hunt-
------Rosenberg (Mr.X)------

We most likely will keep our diamond 4-4-2 system, but we now have more options.

I like the 2nd one , Borowski in a more attack minded mode though joining the front 3 to make it almost 4 , it would be awesome.

The first one is extremely attacking, and might not work against strong sides, because CA is not really strong defensively, which is actually needed for a diamond-4-4-2 to work effectively. In addition to that, Frings as the only DM is too risky also, because he is too much of an engine for that role alone.

With a quality striker like Nilmar, it would be attacking mayhem though. What a midfield!

The second one is very good indeed.

Just heard the Carlos Alberto deal went through, a very good buy for 8m Euros. If you can get Nilmar your squad will be very strong with a nice Brazilian touch.

Thank you Goater.

And I agree, it would be awesome if we could get Nilmar, but the situation is very complicated unfortunately.

Do you have any idea who will be playing for you later today in your friendly against Basel? Will you put out a strong team?

The game is on eurosport so I might watch it if I'm in.

Hey may play for a few minutes, don't think he will start though.

A few pics from the training in Switzerland earlier today:











After the press conference:

$h!t! He tried to take Frings out

Contract details:

Signed for four years. Transfer fee: €7.8M.

He'll earn up to €2.5M a year (depending on our success), a typical Werder contract.


He said that he only wanted to play for Werder, and no one else. There supposedly was a Russian club interested also, offering €10M and twice the wages, for example. Allofs said in an interview that CA's strong wish to play for us made the difference in the end.

CA said that he really likes Bremen, the city and the friendly people, and that his party days are over, that he was young and made a lot of mistakes. He wants to win titles with Werder, and wants to fully concentrate on football. Diego and Naldo have shown that you can be called up for the Selecao even if you show good performances here.

P.S.: Thomas Schaaf wants to play him in the midfield foremost, not as second striker.

TM wrote:$h!t! He tried to take Frings out

Yeah.

It did hurt, but Frings smiled afterwards:




Frings actually always told Diego to help with the defending also (that's why he has improved so much in this area in the year he is playing for us), so he probably liked what he saw (and felt), even if it hurt...

Werder vs. Basel match is going to start right now.

Don't expect too much from this match, we simply have too many injuries, and quite a few key players are missing also. The Swiss league is going to start next week, that's why Basel will be a good and tough test though.

Hopefully, Carlos Alberto will play for a few minutes, don't expect it though.

I wanted to watch this match but for some strange reason I can't get a signal for Eurosport today, nevermind.

We played well for the first half, but now Basel scored two goals in a few minutes.
You can clearly see the difference as far as fitness is concerned.

But it's interesting really, because it shows that we really lack good replacements for our central defence in particular. Maybe we should sign another backup.

I might buy the Bremen top, i like Kappa

But which one..

TM wrote:I might buy the Bremen top, i like Kappa

o dear.....

FC Basel vs. Werder Bremen 2:0 HT


Basel had two chances, scored both. We didn't play very well either, our players look tired (no wonder), but this clearly shows that we lack quality backups for the central defence especially.

A lot of key players missing, which is a good thing really, because it shows where the weaknesses of our bench are.

TM wrote:I might buy the Bremen top, i like Kappa

But which one..

I really like our new special events kit.

The home one looks good, but i hate that Citibank logo, can i have a link to the Special events kit?

http://www.werder.de/

All three kits. Left - away kit, middle - home kit, and right - special events kit.

Nahhh! I really like the home kit, esp Orange stripy things, but i hate that logo!!.

Away one looks nice, S.E

A way more dynamic start by us in the second half. But still, having two midfielders playing in the central defence, both of them not the quickest players I might add, makes us vulnerable on counters.

:S

5 minutes left, bad match by us. Yes, it's just a training match, our players are tired, but a lot of work left for Schaaf in the next few weeks.

We definitely need a new striker soon, and we really missed Diego today also. A lot of posession, but the final pass always lacked precision.

What worries me most is the injury situation (all of our central defenders injured today, for example, in addition to other key players), and that Naldo and Diego won't have much time to rest after the Copa.

Edit: Game finished, Basel wins 2:0.

Oh dear

Its Basel FFS

Pfft. And? Basel are no Cr@p team.

They have finished their training already, the Swiss season starts next week, so it's no surprise that they will be much fitter than us. We've been training all day, and were tired. And we were playing with a C-team, quite a few Regionalliga players playing for us even.

Enough excuses, we sucked.

According to a French source, Lyon were supposedly interested in signing Carlos Alberto also, and we beat them. Would be excellent, if you consider how many transfers Lyon has ruined for us in the last few years, especially when it comes to Lyon players we've been interested in. Aulas is a Pr!ck.

It looks like we are seriously interested in HSV striker (flop rather ) Boubacar Sanogo.

We probably need two new strikers, now that Hunt is seriously injured. So if Sanogo is signed as a squad player, it would be acceptable, but definitely not as a Klose replacement. Please, don't let us be that desperate...