Werder Bremen 2006/2007

Since the Bremen-Mafia equals ~50% of the active German posters on this board, I thought that it makes sense to post a thread about the best, most attractive football playing club in ze whole world - WERDER BREMEN.

As you may know, Werder Bremen has an excellent squad this year. We have the potential to win the championship again, and prevent the Lederhosen (=Bayern München) from winning the league for a third consecutive time.

This is how our current squad looks like:

Code:


+---------------------+----+----------+-----+-------------+
|      Name          | No.| Position | Age | Nationality |
+---------------------+----+----------+-----+-------------+
| Andreas Reinke      |  1 |  Goalie |  37 |      German |
| Tim Wiese          | 18 |  Goalie |  24 |      German |
| Kasper Jensen      | 30 |  Goalie |  23 |        Dane |
| Christian Vander    | 33 |  Goalie |  25 |      German |
| Petri Pasanen      |  3 |  Defence |  25 |       Finn |
| Naldo              |  4 |  Defence |  23 |  Brazilian |
| Pierre Womé        |  5 |  Defence |  27 | Cameroonian |
| Clemens Fritz      |  8 |  Defence |  25 |      German |
| Patrick Owomoyela  | 15 |  Defence |  26 |      German |
| Florian Mohr        | 26 |  Defence |  21 |      German |
| Christian Schulz    | 27 |  Defence |  23 |      German |
| Per Mertesacker    | 29 |  Defence |  21 |      German |
| Leon Andreasen      | 16 | Midfield |  23 |       Dane |
| Frank Baumann      |  6 | Midfield |  30 |      German |
| Jurica Vranjes      |  7 | Midfield |  26 |       Croat |
| Diego              | 10 | Midfield |  21 |  Brazilian |
| Daniel Jensen      | 20 | Midfield |  27 |       Dane |
| Torsten Frings      | 22 | Midfield |  29 |      German |
| Tim Borowski        | 24 | Midfield |  26 |      German |
| Mohamed Zidan      |  9 |  Striker |  24 |    Egyptian |
| Miroslav Klose      | 11 |  Striker |  28 |      German |
| Aaron Hunt          | 14 |  Striker |  19 |      German |
| Ivan Klasnic        | 17 |  Striker |  26 |       Croat |
| Jérôme Polenz      | 19 |  Striker |  19 |      German |
| Hugo Almeida        | 23 |  Striker |  22 |  Portuguese |
| John Jairo Mosquera | 35 |  Striker |  18 |  Colombian |
+---------------------+----+----------+-----+-------------+


The current first XI (still) looks like this:

Code:


-----------Wiese------------
Fritz-Mertesacker-Naldo-Wome
----------Baumann-----------
--Frings----------Borowski--
-----------Diego------------
----Klose--------Klasnic----


The Bundesliga has started two weeks ago, and in both matches so far, our new signing Hugo Almeida scored, which makes it likely that he will start for us in the next match, and probably kick Klasnic out of the first XI in the long run, if Klasnic continues to lack form. Furthermore, there is the highly talented Mohamed Zidan, technically one of the best players in the league, who was injured in the last few weeks, and looked great in the pre season matches, so he has a good chance to start as well. You see, our attack is one of our main strenghts, with four quality strikers, Klose standing out, of course.

Furthermore, there is a fierce competition for the fullback starting places as well, with both Owomoyela (RB) and Schulz (LB) being on par with Fritz and Womé really.
Unfortunately, both Naldo and Mertesacker are injured now, making the central defence our current (temporary) weak spot, since both Pasanen and Andreasen don't have the quality of the first XI defenders. But once Merte and Naldo are back, and start to get match practice together so they can gel, I expect us to have one of the strongest central defences in the league, especially efficient in the air (both Merte and Naldo are almost 2m tall, and very good at headers).

The midfield picks itself really, with Jensen being an excellent and very versatile alternative, he can play anywhere in the midfield really. We possibly have the strongest midfield in the league, very well balanced, strong defensively with Baumann and Frings, while highly creative and dangerous with Diego and Borowski at the same time.

We have won both of our Bundesliga matches so far, 4:2 against Hannover in the first (and highly entertaining) match, and 2:1 against a very strong Leverkusen side in a high class clash between two excellent attacking sides.

This is how the rankings currently look like, with us being second for the time being, behind the surprisingly strong FC Nürnberg:

Pl. Team Matches g. d. l. Goals Diff. Points

01 1. FC Nürnberg 2 2 0 0 4:0 4 6
02 Werder Bremen 2 2 0 0 6:3 3 6
03 Bayern München 2 2 0 0 4:1 3 6
04 Hertha BSC 2 1 1 0 4:0 4 4
05 1. FSV Mainz 05 2 1 1 0 3:2 1 4
06 FC Schalke 04 2 1 1 0 2:1 1 4
07 Bayer Leverkusen 2 1 0 1 4:2 2 3
08 Borussia M'gladbach 2 1 0 1 2:1 1 3
09 VfB Stuttgart 2 1 0 1 3:5 -2 3
10 Hamburger SV 2 0 2 0 3:3 0 2
11 Eintracht Frankfurt 2 0 2 0 1:1 0 2
12 VfL Wolfsburg 2 0 2 0 0:0 0 2
13 Arminia Bielefeld 2 0 1 1 3:4 -1 1
14 Energie Cottbus 2 0 1 1 2:4 -2 1
15 Borussia Dortmund 2 0 1 1 1:3 -2 1
16 VfL Bochum 2 0 0 2 2:4 -2 0
17 Alemannia Aachen 2 0 0 2 0:4 -4 0
18 Hannover 96 2 0 0 2 2:8 -6 0


Bayern are behind us at least, that's most important. Hope it stays like this until the end of the season...

Bayern general manager Hoeness has shown interest in Miroslav Klose, saying that Bayern will try to sign him should he be on the market next season. While this is rather unlikely to happen, since Klose has repeatedly said himself that he wants to move abroad (and he has a contract at the best German club already anyway ), our general manager Allofs made clear that he won't sell Klose to a major rival of us by any means.

He believes that Hoeness is playing mind games, trying to cause unease for the most dangerous rival, like he always does, but Werder will not fall for it. He sees this as a compliment, because this shows that the 'friends' at Bayern are really starting to fear Werder.

i like BREMEN and BAYERN, priority are german young players

not like HSV,Schalke

LEVERKUSEN and Dortmund too with a lot german players, i really enjoy that



@topic

your squad and first 11 is really impressive, i think the first 2 places in the league is a battle between bayern and bremen, thats for sure

Great opening post blut.

I will certainly check this topic often. Like your way of play.

If all your players are fit who is the weakest spot you think?

wow brilliant XI, i dont rate naldo that high tho

Thank you for your kind words guys, appreciated.


@Deisler
I agree. A German football club should at least have a few German players in their squad. But most clubs, even HSV, have finally understood this, because it is very important for the fans to be able to identify themselves with their clubs.

Don't get me wrong, good foreign players are always welcome, definitely good for the league. But cheap mediocre foreigners making it harder for talented German youngsters to break through aren't.

Another factor is clubs having financial problems, so they are forced to rely on homegrown talent, e.g. Dortmund, Hertha Berlin or Frankfurt. The irony is that once these clubs actually give their youngsters a chance, they have success.


@punty

When Naldo came to Bremen, we knew that he was talented, but he definitely was not a 'finished' defender, he still isn't. Still, he has improved dramatically in the last 12 months he is playing for us already. Him and Fahrenhorst made sure that Bremen had the most stable defence of the second half of the season (yes, this 'ridiculously attacking' Bremen side), conceding less goals than any other club.

He is slowly but surely becoming a high class defender, and I'm seriously saying this without bias. Again, he is not finished yet, he is still young, but I'm sure that if he stays with us for a couple of years, he'll be one of the best players on his position. I do rate him highly, and really look forward to him and Mertesacker forming a strong partnership in the central defence.

How has Diago looked over these past two games. i think he is a great by for bremen

Diego was awesome, MOTM in both matches. He has 5 scorer points already, 4 assists (!) and 1 goal in just two matches!

He already is a star of the team, and a star of the league. The press is raving about him so much that our management is worried about the hype.

blutgraetsche wrote:Diego was awesome, MOTM in both matches. He has 5 scorer points already, 4 assists (!) and 1 goal in just two matches!

He already is a star of the team, and a star of the league. The press is raving about him so much that our management is worried about the hype.

and you complain about our press

Going to be great football weekend at our neigbours. Schalke-Bremen and Nurnberg-Bayern, Bremen should win it im still not impressed by schalke this year.

You Bremen guys remember that match again Feyenoord 3-4? Still one of the best Feyenoord matches i have ever seen.

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:and you complain about our press

Our tabloid press is not really that much better than yours, but seriously, this guy is special, he deserves the hype. The problem is that he is so young still, that's why too much hype can be dangerous. That makes our staff worried. Despite his excellent start, he still needs to prove a lot during the season.

But I'm glad that Diego knows this also, as he has repeatedly said himself. He is a very likeable, down-to-earth guy.

How much playing time Mosquera will get , so I like the look of him.
Also Zidan is another one to watch out.

Fey wrote:Going to be great football weekend at our neigbours. Schalke-Bremen and Nurnberg-Bayern, Bremen should win it im still not impressed by schalke this year.

You Bremen guys remember that match again Feyenoord 3-4? Still one of the best Feyenoord matches i have ever seen.

Winning 'auf Schalke' isn't easy. And despite their rather lacklustre start, they have a very good team again this year, especially strong in the defence. Will be a tough match for us, knwoing that our first XI central defence will still be injured.
I hope that we win though, would be an awesome start, since we are playing against the strongest teams at the start of the season.

Do you mean the match in 1994? That was an awesome match indeed, back in the Otto Rehagel days, with Werder legends like Basler or Herzog playing. Good days, despite the defeat.

BilalShah wrote:How much playing time Mosquera will get , so I like the look of him.
Also Zidan is another one to watch out.

Mosquera is very young still, don't think that he will get that much playing time for the first team yet. Great talent though, I agree. I just listed him because he has a licence to play for us in the Bundesliga. We have a few other talented youngsters who don't, playing for Werder II. I haven't listed those.

Zidane is great, brilliant dribbler, elegant player. He has improved a lot last year at Mainz (on a loan), his finishing is much better now also. I'd say that he is stronger than Valdez already, the Paraguayan international we sold to Dortmund. Really like to see him play, he should get quite a lot of playing time this season.

blutgraetsche wrote:Since the Bremen-Mafia equals ~50% of the active German posters on this board

Or in other words: There are two of us.

blutgraetsche wrote:
I thought that it makes sense to post a thread about the best, most attractive football playing club in ze whole world - WERDER BREMEN.

What is your second X1 blut , I think you are a bit weak in CB cover.

Well the pressure will be high for Schalke. If they lose the coach will be in trouble.

I liked Leverkussen llast week at Bremen because of their positive attacking play they showed. Too bad they lost that one.

Yep i mean that 1994 match, Larsson with the hattrick. So far i can remember we won at home with 1-0. Feyenoord always plays better against German teams, but also lose a lot.

I hope lyon draw yur lot again in the CL. Have you been missing Micoud at all?

Diego: Der Herr des Balles
http://www.kicker.de/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/353887

...and a farewell video from a Porto fan, very touching...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OAGTTYviBE


THANK YOU CO ADRIAANSE BTW, MY FAVOURITE DUTCHIE OF ALL TIME!!

BilalShah wrote:What is your second X1 blut , I think you are a bit weak in CB cover.

Don't know if that's actually true. Baumann can play CB, Andreasen as well. Pasanen is a good player, he just lacks consistency. You can't expect us to be able to replace our starting CB 1:1, even Bayern can't do that.

Fey wrote:Well the pressure will be high for Schalke. If they lose the coach will be in trouble.

I liked Leverkussen llast week at Bremen because of their positive attacking play they showed. Too bad they lost that one.

Yep i mean that 1994 match, Larsson with the hattrick. So far i can remember we won at home with 1-0. Feyenoord always plays better against German teams, but also lose a lot.

Still, Schalke have class players on most positions, and they will try to prove that they are serious contenders for the title against us, especially after being ridiculed by the press for their big words ("totale Dominanz") before the season started.

Leverkusen are excellent, they have some excellent German youngsters in their squad, e.g. Kießling and Rolfes, both having a good chance to play for the Mannschaft soon. Great attacking side indeed, I like them also. I expect them to very well this season, they have a good chance to qualify for the Champions League.

Will Feyenoord play in the CL again this season? I agree, matches against Feyenoord are always entertaining.

Kießling looked great against you lot, tho he should have scored more of the chances he had.

You guys are looking great again this year, the clashes against Fc hollywood will be important i think.

Nope this it will be the good old UEFA cup again, and i think next as well. But lets hope we can do an Ajax in the play-offs and play finally some CL again.

theflyingfrenchman wrote:I hope lyon draw yur lot again in the CL. Have you been missing Micoud at all?

I actually hope that as well, we still have to settle a score with them, after they thrashed us badly in our very first CL season. Don't you believe that we will allow that to happen again.

Of course Micoud is being missed as a Werder legend, one of the very best players ever playing for us, and our management did their best to convince him to stay for another year, but to no prevail. He wanted to move back to France, and since we are grateful for what he has done for us, we accepted that.
But we don't 'miss' him in footballing terms, because Diego has brilliantly replaced him in his own way already. He is a different player than Micoud, but extremely talented, and very young still.

Micoud was one of the first guys sending his congrats (via text message) to our general manager Allofs after our first victory of the season against Hannover.

Fey wrote:Kießling looked great against you lot, tho he should have scored more of the chances he had.

You guys are looking great again this year, the clashes against Fc hollywood will be important i think.

Nope this it will be the good old UEFA cup again, and i think next as well. But lets hope we can do an Ajax in the play-offs and play finally some CL again.

Kießling is very young still, I think that he will improve in Leverkusen in the next few years, exactly the right club for him in this phase, because he will get a lot of match practice. He needs to mature, this should improve his finishing also.

Matches against "FC Hollywood" (-> Bayern München, for those who don't know ) are always a highlight. I read that the Werder vs. Bayern match in october is already sold out, really looking forward to that.

Hope to see you guys back in the CL then. Good luck against Ajax and PSV!

chrissicross wrote:
THANK YOU CO ADRIAANSE BTW, MY FAVOURITE DUTCHIE OF ALL TIME!!

Hahaha.....

Bremen mafia strikes again!

chrissi, what do you think about the match against Schalke? Reeeeeeaaaally would love to beat them on their own turf.

chrissicross wrote:
THANK YOU CO ADRIAANSE BTW, MY FAVOURITE DUTCHIE OF ALL TIME!!

Of course he is, he's an excellent manager !

First year around he wins the double with Porto, playing attacking football (only three defenders......in *Portugal* of all places ).

Typical of the Portuguese though to show him no respect at all (I would have left too).

blutgraetsche wrote:
chrissi, what do you think about the match against Schalke? Reeeeeeaaaally would love to beat them on their own turf.

Oh, nothing is better than beating Schalke, apart from beating the Lederhosen and the HSV of course, and I'm pretty optimistic: I've read today on WOL Naldo may be fit again until friday... Another reason why I like Schalke away matches is their stadium, it's really great. Btw did you notice this story in Sportbild:

Frings ist täglich in der Wäschekammer
http://www.sportbild.de/de/nncs/sportbild/2006/08/21/4171700000.html

Interesting.

SpartaR wrote:
If all your players are fit who is the weakest spot you think?

Sorry for having overlooked this question.

If all of our players are fit and in form, and if our central defence has finally geled, the only "weak spot", if you can actually call it that, is the defensive role of our fullbacks. All of our fullbacks are dangerous and provide width in the attack, but they are not the strongest in the defence. Fritz, Womé and Owomoyela more so than Schulz, who is stronger defensively. Don't get me wrong, we have very good fullbacks, some of the best in the league, but we don't have the very best. Bayern have Lahm and Sagnol, for example, both amongst the very best players in the world on their positions.

I expect our fullbacks to improve defensively though. Thomas Schaaf is great at improving players, he always tries to bring out the best of his players, and is successful most of the time.