Werder Bremen 2006/2007

Effenberg wrote:@ Chrisscross

Did we really lose that spot in 2002? I thought that was our best year with Leverkusen in the final and Bayern in the semifinals.

I don't know it exactly to be honest, 2002 is what I've read in my local newspaper this morning...

I think you're right, the season 2001/2002 must have been our best year with 13.5 points...however this doesn't mean we haven't lost the second spot that year...

Effenberg wrote:
I think it would help us if at least two of our CL contenders finished 3rd and went far in the UEFA cup. I can't see any of them getting many points after the group stages at the moment. We just have to stay on top until we lose the terrible season that got us into this mess. An average of 10 or 10,5 points a year should do it.

Well, I think it's safe to say Bremen won't survive the group stage reaching the third play in the end, which means UEFA Cup (resp. Loser Cup according to Uli Hoeness ) for us. Bayern will surely reach the second round and with regard to the HSV anything is possible, maybe they reach the second round as well.
However with at least Bremen, Schalke and Leverkusen I think we have good chances in the UEFA Cup this year...of course that doesn't mean we have any points to lose in the CL group stage, a point is a point is a point...

chrissicross wrote:

Allez_les_rouges wrote:OK Chrissi, I understand now about ranking points, thanks for that. I'm not up on that kind of thing at all and such calculating considerations would never normally occur to me – I tend to have more emotional reasons for supporting or not supporting a team... but it makes sense!

But what do all the more emotional reasons for supporting or not supporting a team help you, when your team can't play CL any more. Of course you as an Arsenal supporter don't have such problems since Arsenal is an English team and England have more than enough points, probably even becoming second or first best League in the UEFA ranking in the next years. But for Germany losing more slots means only Bayern can play CL and the whole rest has to struggle for just one qualification slot...

Allez_les_rouges wrote:
Thanks for the articles. By the way I finally got round to hearing your Werder song, along with the WM recollections at the start of the Mannschaft thread (off-topic: what fabulous stuff, if not that easy to watch – I'm sure you know what I mean; Mann, wat für 'ne Gänsehaut... and the Braveheart music – what a filum ;-) – for the Italy game, dear oh dear).

Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. Btw I noticed I forget to post a link for "54 74 90 2010 at Brandenburg Gate" in my Nationalmannschafts Thread...I will correct this immediately...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Jrv7qPC7w

Allez_les_rouges wrote:
You didn't point out it was an Ärzte rip-off! But great stuff all the same, indeed makes it all the easier to "indoctrinate" me.

I knew you would know it's an Ärzte rip-off... Really amazing how much you know considering the time you've spend here...

Allez_les_rouges wrote:
will hold back from pointing out the sacrilege of using a Berlin band for your Hanseatic self-aggrandizement...

who would miss the Nordsee while sitting by the Wannsee anyway?!? ;-)

Do you like Die Ärzte then, Allez?

Yes Chrissi, I quite understand your reasons for having to support all your German rivals, I was only half-joking in the first instance! Don't worry... just hope you don't think I'm too spoilt/privileged not to have to consider such matters as ranking points...

I found the"54, 74, 90, 2010" video straight away on YouTube anyway! And as for Asa, Poldi and Odonkor's efforts... (To think I'd have been back in a flash if that semi had gone differently... then again the scenes would have been very different )

I do like the Ärzte, though probably only really know some of their more famous stuff. Quite recently got a double album of their last 20 years. Would probably have to say nothing quite gets me as much as "Schrei nach Liebe"...

Truth be told I am a Rammstein man, that is where I really go mental in terms of (German) "pop" music.

(Cue consternation – all Deutsche seem in my experience to belong toeither the "das ist der Hammer!!!" or the "das ist keine Musik!!"camp on this one, there seems to be little in between... )

Best of luck tonight, I'll be shouting for you!

Hooray! Klose will play tonight...

COME ON BREMEN!!!

if you win tonight, i will buy a werder bremen shirt!

As expected, we lost the game. But I really didn't expect us to make it so hard for Chelsea, it could have gone the other way, especially in the second half. So despite the loss, I can't really be angry with my team.

And as I had expected also, we really needed Mertesacker in this game. Pasanen simply is not international class, while Naldo confirmed that all the praise I gave him in the last few weeks was justified. With Naldo and Mertesacker fully fit, the "Twin Towers defence", we do have a realistic chance to advance from this group, and I'm not exaggerating. I really hope to see Mertesacker playing for us as soon as possible.

At least Bayern won clearly today, we really need those points for the Bundesliga.

Btw., the few Werder fans were louder than the Chelsea fans during the whole match. Great support by the fans, they did their best.

blutgraetsche wrote:Btw., the few Werder fans were louder than the Chelsea fans during the whole match. Great support by the fans, they did their best.

Heard the Bremen fans even after the final whistle (singing that offensive song towards HSV..i think)

Doesn't surprise me, most of the people that go and see Chelsea nowadays are nancy boy Sloaners

A bit off topic, but a very interesting article about Chelsea, in German only unfortunately:

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,436369,00.html

Commiserations and yet well done chaps. Gutting to lose like that through two ultimately soft and unnecessary goals, always a real pain against such a strong team as Chelsea. Will be good to see the rematch with Merte and Wiese back when you've had more time to put some form together. I agree re Pasanen, I wondered what he was doing on the pitch early on, though he too improved. But you truly have regained my respect (after the Schalke match) – the football you played in the first half of the second period was the best of the match, when you dominated and deserved a goal. (How good was Womé by the way?!) Klose really had to score that first header and agonizing that the second beautiful dipping one didn't quite drop in...

Also sad if understandable that the second goal seemed to knock all the stuffing and self-belief out of you. I expect more fire even in such adversity later in the competition! You're the kind of team that I think often comes from behind, or has to, and it'll be even more so in this tournament. (Of course Klose probably wasn't fit enough to be firing on all cylinders all the way through...)

And why oh why couldn't Flumps take the penalty? Why did he have to be sensible when it mattered? I don't know if the Ballack strike makes it better or worse. But how utterly magisterial, what a staggeringly good penalty. (Haven't had time to read any chat about that or even the game as a whole on this forum yet...)

And as for your fans – sickening that the stadium wasn't even nearly full, I'd have loved to be there. Not in the home section of course... and I can testify from being there for a cup game last season to the rubbishness of their fans. Great to hear "Steht auf, wenn ihr Bremer seid" and "Auf geht's Bremen, schieß ein Tor" from the start and even when you were losing. As you say, outsinging the home crowd, quite something...

Barcelona in a couple of weeks then, I'm sure you'll step up. I might have to watch Munich as that's where I'll be, but right behind you there too...

Allez, how come you support Arsenal when you are such a vociferous supporter of German football?

The result last night was ominous though for the rest of Europe.

Mourinho will soon realise playing a midfield comprising of only central midfielders is only marginally working, and when he does then I worry for Chelsea's opponents.

With Joe Cole and Robben to come back to the side and give Chelsea width and penetration, on top of the enormous options on the bench (which should hopefully include a relegated Lampard to give the man time to rest and regain form and allow Ballack to get on with it in the central forward midfield position),

it puts into perspective the ease that Bremen were dispatched with yesterday.

I hope Im wrong

I agree, it is ludicrous that Lampard is still in the team at the moment; surely even he can't last long but it will be a big thing if José finally does it; with Cole and Robben back it's gotta be something like: Cech; Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Boulahrouz; Makelele; Cole, Essien, Ballack, Robben; Shevchenko – with the old 4-5-1/4-3-3 system kicking in.

More to the point Pele, who the mf do YOU support (apart from the fourth greatest soccer nation in the world ;-) ) that we can rinse you for, or are you really a genuine neutral?

It's true, I never grew up with a team to support, but in a British context Arsenal makes sense for me on so many levels – not only internationally these days but also it's the closest to my London roots.

"Ease with which Bremen were dispatched" is a bit ludicrous methinks; both the goals simply shouldn't have been conceded foir a start, and Miro should have had one and was THAT close to another. I'm still reeling from that penalty though – not sure if it's made or ruined my week...

Tweedledum wrote:Doesn't surprise me, most of the people that go and see Chelsea nowadays are nancy boy Sloaners

I was at the game yesterday

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, hard luck Bremen. I don't know about you guys (though I'm assuming it's the same for you), but we didn't play too well last night. You guys made it very difficult for us, and with our lack of width we struggled to break you down.

If I'm being honest (and I'd like to think Bremen fans will agree with me), I think 2-0 is probably fair in terms of chances (Klose had a shot where he should've made Cech work, and a header which was awesome - had Cech beaten - something that doesn't happen often ) but we had Drogba (both his header and his shot should've made the keeper work at least) as well as Lampard's shot at the end.

I think Lampard should've had a penalty imo (thought he dived when I saw it live but when I got home and saw the highlights it was a pen imo), but Terry should've been sent off (which may have changed the game completely). Don't think it was intent (from Terry), but it was poorly timed (unusual for him).

I'd just like to say well done to the Bremen fans too. All day when I was working (driving through London etc) I saw crowds of Bremen fans singing non-stop. Same at the stadium too. Fantastic support and I hope you beat Barcelona in Bremen (for the sake of keeping your chance to qualify alive if anything)

Nice post S4P.

Another thing though Blut (off-topic sorry), I'm not a big fan of that Chelsea article you posted... seems to be a bit over-keen (a common fault in German journalism?) on making extravagant metaphorical conceits about Chelsea, buying into the hype and looking from a distance in somewhat starry-eyed fashion at them. Give them credit for forming a very tough to beat (esp at home) close-knit unit that do indeed play like a team; but this makes them like Bayern, not some kind of more radical, outward-looking, visionary creation. They've now become a galactico club at last with the acquisitions of Ballack and Shevchenko, but they still have very rarely played any football to stir the soul, despite all the monies. They came up with a few great moments on Wednesday for instance, but the best football of the match, as I said, was I think played by you guys in the third quarter of the match.

But that's exactly what the article is saying, isn't it? Chelsea is all about functioning, about efficiency, not about the 'beautiful game'.

I thought the article to be excellent, especially at the end.

@ Allez

Agree with all of what you say if I'm honest, but I think it will be different when Joe Cole and Arjen Robben (who started training for the first time yesterday) come back. These are our more "beautiful" players (along with SWP if he can find some form). When Robben and Cole were playing their best stuff last season (as well as Duff) we were averaging wins of 4-0, playing some brilliant football.

I don't think we're a "galactico" club, but without those 2 players, we're a very 'functional' kind of club.

Bremen, as I say, are very tough to beat. Should they go out the group (which in all fairness, will look on the cards if they lose to Barcelona, though nobody can write them off just yet) they should win the UEFA Cup no problem imo. I think Bremen's problem (like ours) was lack of width, so they kept trying to go through the middle (and to be honest, I don't think I'm being bias when I say our CM quartet is overall slightly better than WB's (even if Lampard and Makelele didn't play particularly well)

Fair play S4P, I wasn't having a go (even if I'm disliking you at the moment almost as much as U*d, who are depressingly setting the standard in the Premiership at the moment); the midfield quartet (or indeed future quintet?) looks mighty indeed, especially without Lampard.

Blut, I know the article wasn't trying to make Chelsea out to be practitioners of the beautiful game, and I found it mostly decent; my issue with it was more that it took an excessively starry view of Chelsea's apparently matchless professionalism and ambition, which I don't think its performances to date really deserve. There is a bit of "grass is greener" going on here I think, whereas money is the governing factor entirely, I think, in comparisons between, say, Chelsea and Bayern. Paragraphs like this slightly irritated me:

"Wenn man Ballack eine Weile zuhört, bekommt man den Eindruck, dass er den FC Bayern zuletzt nicht mehr als großen Fußballclub, sondern beinahe wie eine Sekte wahrnahm, die ihre Spieler normt und verschluckt und letztlich große Siege verhindert, weil es zu wenig Austausch und zu wenig Konkurrenz gibt. Die Radikalität des Leistungsdenkens fehlte Ballack in München, und es wirkt, als sei er froh, noch mal davongekommen zu sein. Es könnte schon sein, dass er jetzt in eine sehr viel strengere Sekte gewechselt ist, aber diese spielt besseren Fußball."

If Ballack has joined a "strengere, bessere Sekte", he may turn out to be a lot of the reason why the Wein has become more like Sekt (geddit?)...

I understand what you are saying Allez, but the "grass is greener" undertone is just standard in the German press these days (not just when football is concerned). You simply have to filter it out, that's what I do automatically.

Yes, I have noticed it, glad you agree. But I will continue to fight against it, dammit!! Then again, maybe the fewer people that understand the reality, the better...

What happened to the "football play we better than you" mentality? ;-)

"sind nicht die größte Spielkultur, sind nicht gerade filigran ..."

DOCH......

Allez_les_rouges wrote:Yes, I have noticed it, glad you agree. But I will continue to fight against it, dammit!! Then again, maybe the fewer people that understand the reality, the better...

What happened to the "football play we better than you" mentality? ;-)

"sind nicht die größte Spielkultur, sind nicht gerade filigran ..."

DOCH......

"haben nicht die höchste Spielkultur", whoops...

Das war goldig, Allez! Kein Grund Dich zu schämen!

jaja, ich werde fürs Vaterland weiterkämpfen, sei's auf der Insel, sei's auf Oktoberfestbänken... ;-)

Allez_les_rouges wrote:jaja, ich werde fürs Vaterland weiterkämpfen, sei's auf der Insel, sei's auf Oktoberfestbänken... ;-)

Allez_les_rouges wrote:jaja, ich werde fürs Vaterland weiterkämpfen, sei's auf der Insel, sei's auf Oktoberfestbänken... ;-)

Ich glaube, das will ich jetzt nicht genauer wissen.

hehe, mal schauen in vierzehn Tagen...!

Mertesacker steht vor seinem Werder-Debüt
http://www.werder.de/aktuelles/news/meldung.php?id=9198

chrissicross wrote:Mertesacker steht vor seinem Werder-Debüt
http://www.werder.de/aktuelles/news/meldung.php?id=9198

Best news in ages. Goddamnit Per, we need you, especially in the CL....

Diego had a quite interesting chat on uefa.com, speaks about Werder, Porto, Santos, the CL and the rest.

_______________________________________________________

Fresh from facing Chelsea FC in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, Werder Bremen's Brazilian playmaker Diego joined uefa.com users for a live web chat. Read his answers to your questions below.

Moderator: Welcome to Talk Football Expert Chat.

Diego: Hello and thanks for joining the chat. I am looking forward to answering your questions.

Inzaghi9: Hi, I'm Francesco from Italy and I'm your fan from Santos time. Two questions for you: what do you think about your ex-teammate Ricardo Oliveira (in Santos) and Luis Anderson (in Porto)? What's your favourite position?

Diego: Hi Francesco! They are both great players. I have played with Oliveira for a while in Santos and he is a dangerous striker. He´s got lots of qualities, good in the air, on the ball and striking with both legs. He is complete.

Diego: Anderson is only 18, he is still young. But you can see he is very quick and talented. He is starting games for Porto, which is good for him.
Diego: My favourite position is offensive midfielder. The typical number 10.

Andrei Steaua Fan: Diego how do you fancy your chances in qualifying for the next round?

Diego: It is hard, as we expected. After the first match we have two impressions: the bad one, for the result. The good one is the good game we played there against Chelsea. We still have three games at home; I think we have good possibilities to go through.

juninho: What are your best memories of playing for Porto?

Diego: First of all, I have to say I was always very well received and treated by the supporters. They have been very friendly with me the whole time. The city is great, beautiful and I had great times there. Probably the best memory was winning the Intercontinental Cup against Once Caldas, of Colombia. I had lost to them in the Copa Libertadores playing for Santos, so beating them with Porto was a little revenge.

BOCETA: Do you think Dunga is going to call you into the Brazilian team? [Also asked by Tofix and Saetia]

Diego: Well, this is a great objective for me. I know there is a huge competitiveness when it comes to the Seleção. There are lots of players and lots of options for the coach. But this is my goal. I will keep playing, doing my homework and waiting for a call. It is good to know that Dunga is looking in different countries, like Russia and Ukraine, not only Spain and Italy, for example.

Andrei Steaua Fan: What is your ultimate goal in football? What do you expect to achieve with your skills?

Diego: I don't think much about personal achievements. The idea is always to be playing. And, of course, to win as much silverware as possible.

BOCETA: Diego, why did you leave Portuguese football?

Diego: The main thing was the big interest Werder Bremen showed for me. They had been following me for a while and it made me happy the way they approached. The president, the coach, directors, everyone showed a lot of respect. The other reason is the way I was disrespected by Porto in the last stage of the season. All of a sudden, I went from starter to out of the squad. I wasn’t even called for matches and there was absolutely no explanation for that. Of course it was the coach’s decision, but he had the allowance of the president to do that. This was an important fact for me, of course.

adiman: Did you ever play Futsal in Brazil and if so how has it helped your game?

Diego: Yes, I did play Futsal and it helped me a lot. Futsal is very good for agility and ability with the ball. It makes you think quicker.

Andrei Steaua Fan: Bayern appear that they are going to be title holders once again. What do you reckon your chances are of challenging them?

Diego: Bayern are great favourites; they are the defending champions. But our goal is the title. We have beaten them in the German Supercup and I think we can do it again. It is going to be a tight Bundesliga this year.

Andrei Steaua Fan: Did any of the results from Matchday 1 surprise you Diego?

Diego: I think Steaua Bucuresti's victory, 4-1 against Dynamo in Kiev. Only this one was surprising for me.

Rockybaptiste II: Do you feel Ballack is having the same impact for Chelsea that he did in the Bundesliga?

Diego: It is difficult to preview how big his impact is going to be. I feel he is adapting well in England, I noticed he spoke very good English with the other players. Chelsea are a great side and it helps every player to adapt faster. Let's see, it is difficult to foresee what is going to happen there.

clarkey11: You've been described as the next Zico. How does that feel?

Diego: I feel happy and satisfied. This is a compliment for me. However, I have to say I don't like these comparisons. I am still 21 years old and I am far away from being a new Zico, I still have a lot to do. Players like Zico are eternal in football.

Saetia: Hi Diego, how big is the chance to get in the next round of the Champions League in your opinion? Especially in a group with Barça and Chelsea?

Diego: Hi! As I said before, I think we do have a chance. It is difficult, because they are two of the best teams in Europe, but we have three home games to define our future.

uli: What do you think of your new city Bremen and the new country Germany?

Diego: So far, so good! Well, I still don't know Germany quite well. But Bremen is a nice and relaxing city and the people have been very friendly with me. Besides, here it is easier to go out and walk around, people are shyer to ask you for pictures and autographs than in Brazil or Portugal.

Conrad Bartelski: Do you think the 2-0 scoreline at Stamford Bridge did justice to Bremen's performanace at Chelsea on Tuesday?

Diego: No, it didn't. I think the final result doesn’t reflect properly the way the match developed. We deserved a better result, but football is like that. We all know it.

c.adams: How good is your German already? Have you already started learning. How important for you is the support from Naldo?

Diego: Not good! It is such a difficult language! Well, I have just started to learn German and I hope I can talk to my team-mates soon! Naldo is helping me a lot. We have been talking about so many things and having a country-mate in the same team is essential for the adaptation of a player abroad.

zagorakis_7: Which team would you most like to beat in the Champions League

Diego: The next opponent

Dave Badger: Hi, I'm 14 and looking to improve my passing. What advice do you have?

Diego: Hello! You are still young and you have plenty of time to learn. Passing is repetition. It is a matter of training, training, training, repetition, repetition, repetition. This is how you become a good passer.

huntelaar: What are the possibilities to defeat Barcelona in both games? And which team dont you want to face after the group stage? What are your emotions if it should be Bayern or Hamburg? Thank you.

Diego: Well, we stand better chances at home so 50% maybe. Barcelona are such a fantastic team, so we have to play our game and rely on our talent and luck. Scoring first is essential against any team, especially against Barcelona. After the group stage… well, let’s try to qualify first! What is for sure is that we can't face either Bayern or Hamburg in the round of 16, because UEFA avoids matches between clubs of the same country. I hope we meet one of them in Athens!

Deco: Who is the best defender you have played against?

Diego: Makelele. It seems he knows every single shortcut on the pitch.

ramario: Who is the best player you have ever played with at club and also international level?

Diego: Ronaldo. I played with him in the national team and I tell you: he is amazing.

Conrad Bartelski: Having played in Portugal, were you surprised by the diving of the Portugal players at this summer's FIFA World Cup?

Diego: No. I wasn't surprised or impressed. In fact, you don't see as many players diving here in Europe as you can see back there in Brazil. But anyway...I didn't see all these Portuguese dives in the World Cup. Definitely not.

chelsea1978: Which Chelsea player impressed you?

Diego: Well, I think I knew most of them. I could point out Essien, maybe. He did a great job against us.

Larusso: Have you already found friends in the team of Werder Bremen?

Diego: I have a good relation with all of them. Obviously not many close friends yet, as I don’t speak German. Naldo is Brazilian, so we are closer. And then there are Klasnic, Yuri… all of them are nice and friendly team-mates.

Jtelfo: Before you left Brazil for Porto there were rumours in the British press that you would be joining Tottenham Hotspur. Was there any truth in these rumours at the time?

Diego: Yes, it was true. It happened, Tottenham made an official offer and the deal was almost closed. My father even traveled to London to get to know the club. But in the end Santos's president didn’t want to sell me and this was his final decision.

Diego: Friends, it was a pleasure for me. Right now I have to go training! I hope you enjoy the Champions League and we meet in the final stages. Bye!

Moderator: Thanks everyone for your questions today and join us again on Talk Football Expert Chat in a couple of weeks!


http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/UCL/talkfootball/chat/newsId=457228.html

After establishing himself on the international scene with five goals at the 2002 World Cup, Werder Bremen and Germany striker Miroslav Klose has gone on to prove himself one of the most complete strikers in Europe.

His 25 goals in 26 games fired Bremen to the runners-up spot in the Bundesliga last year. His side has made an indifferent start to the new season, lying sixth in the Bundesliga, but suffering recent defeats to minnows FK Pirmasens in the German Cup and, perhaps more forgivably, Chelsea in the Champions League.

Here, he speaks to Eurosport in an exclusive interview.

Herr Klose, you have had a bumpy start to the new season. Three Bundesliga matchdays, then the long international break, then back to domestic football with the German Cup. Has Werder Bremen found its rhythm yet?

Miroslav Klose: I think you could see in the game against Chelsea that we're on the right track, and are playing more as a team and standing more compact. We just have to continue on that path.

The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster ride for you – success with the national team and then the defeat with Werder. How do you deal with that?

Miroslav Klose: I'm not generally the type of person that thinks about things too much, even when it's going well. I've put the World Cup out of my mind and am now concentrating on the tasks that lie ahead. I don't think we're going through a bad spell with Werder. We began quite well, though haven't been able to play the football that we expect of ourselves yet.

Do you ever recall images printed in your mind of the great times of the World Cup after negative experiences?

Miroslav Klose: Those images will always stay in the memory. Even the game in Stuttgart [Germany beat Portugal 3-1 in the third place playoff] and what happened afterwards in Berlin will stay in my mind for a long time.

People always say that anything can happen in the Cup. What was the real reason for the bitter defeat against Pirmasens?

Miroslav Klose: Quite honestly: on that day we were simply awful. Nobody was able to deliver the sort of performance that they are capable of. We should not be under any illusions; every one of us was genuinely poor. We knew that the opponent would be up for it, but we couldn't get our game together, and couldn't maintain the tempo that you need against a team like that.

Was the team already in Stamford Bridge mentally?

Miroslav Klose: I can only speak for myself when I say that it certainly wasn't like that for me. I wanted to win this match. Not only because it took place close to my home, but also because we wanted to put in a proper performance against a Regionalliga [third division] team. Many top flight teams have come unstuck there, as they have only approached the match at 50% or 60% of the normal intensity. That doesn't work any more these days.

A professional should approach every match with the same mindset. To what extent is that possible when on Saturday you're playing against the nobodies of FK Pirmasens, and just three days later will face the most expensively-assembled team in the world?

Miroslav Klose: A good player is marked out by his ability to focus properly on every game. We have to admit to ourselves that we overplayed our chances of winning. In Chelsea we delivered a good team performance, but the goals we conceded were frustrating. We shot ourselves in the foot there. But we saw that we could compete. We want to continue along the path that we started on Tuesday.

Does the team really have enough quality to qualify from this group with Chelsea and Barca?

Miroslav Klose: We have still to face everybody at home and we know how difficult it is for other teams to play us there. But the Champions League is second priority at this moment. We're concentrating fully on our next Bundesliga game in Stuttgart.

Five goals conceded in three league games and two individual errors in the Champions League. Is that not too much to overcome even for Werder's potent strike force?

Miroslav Klose: I see it differently. The attack and the defence are in it together. If he put away a lot of chances up front, then there's less to do for the defence. But it is true that we are making a lot of individual errors. That can happen, nobody is going to have their head cut off for that. But it all builds up, and that's the bad thing at the moment. That will be mercilessly punished against a team like Chelsea.

Can your team-mate in the national team, Per Mertesacker, bring the required stability?

Miroslav Klose: We all hope so. As a character and as a player he can definitely help us. But he must get back to full fitness first of all. If he tries to come back too early, when he's only 70% or 80% fit, then it will all go wrong. He has to be 100%.

In 14 days, you face Barcelona in the Champions League, who put five goals past Levski Sofia. What needs to happen between now and then?

Miroslav Klose: That's difficult to say. As a team we need to keep things tighter, to stay compact and to be able to raise the tempo quickly. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who we're playing. Whether against Barcelona or Stuttgart, we need to be quicker mentally.

Are VfB Stuttgart the right opponents to face, to recover your form?

Miroslav Klose: No, they will be difficult opponents. They play better away from home, and we already had a hard time against them last year.

Three points would be perfect fort team spirit and self-confidence&hellip

Miroslav Klose: Of course, we are desperate to win this match and that's how we will approach the game.

What is your gameplan going to be against Armin Veh's side?

Miroslav Klose: We still have more work to do on that.

Got this from the Eurosport site

Ärger bei Werder: Frings attackiert Diego
http://www.sportbild.de/nncs/fussball/2006/09/17/4409300000.html

90 MINUTEN mit …Torsten Frings
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/sport/archiv/17.09.2006/2783265.asp

Einfach aufgehört: Bremen führt 2:0 und verliert 2:3 gegen Stuttgart
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/sport/archiv/17.09.2006/2783211.asp