"A lot of people thought we wouldn’t get back up"

The fight to stay in the Bundesliga continues. FC Augsburg are next up for SV Werder Bremen, who will be aiming for three points again from 15:30 CEST on Saturday, 2nd May 2026. That, at least, is the goal that head coach Daniel Thioune has set for the Green-Whites. Speaking at Thursday afternoon’s pre-match press conference, the Werder boss discussed…

…FC Augsburg: “I don’t think FCA will change their approach too much in the final few games. When Manuel Baum took over as head coach, his priority was to reduce the number of goals they were conceding, and he’s managed to do that. I’m therefore expecting them to sit deep and look to counter quickly through long balls. They’re very good at making a lot out of very little. They also have a good goalkeeper behind them in Finn Dahmen. All in all, it’s going to be a tough challenge.”

…Augsburg’s counter-attacking threat: “We can’t stop them from having pace, but we can stop them from getting up to full speed too often. To do that, we need to keep our turnovers to a minimum. That starts with being controlled in possession. We’ll need patience in attack and real accuracy with our passing. If they do get chances to break, we need to have good cover behind the ball and get into the challenges quickly. My lads aren’t exactly slow either, so they can catch Augsburg if they have to. Ultimately, though, everyone has a role to play, so we need to stay switched on as a team.”

…possible squad changes: “I work with the players I have available. We had 20 players in the squad in Stuttgart, so we’ll have some decisions to make this weekend with Marco Friedl and Marco Grüll coming back. That doesn’t mean, for example, that Victor Boniface was only involved last time because of the personnel situation. I pick the squad based on how we want to approach the game. We’ll make the final call after the last training session and then see who makes the matchday squad. I’m happy to be in a position where I have decisions to make, rather than just having to manage the situation.”

…captain Marco Friedl potentially returning to the starting XI: “As things stand, Marco has taken full part in team training, just like Jens Stage. Niklas Stark has been on a modified programme. We’ll wait and see how all three get through tomorrow’s final session. If they take full part, all three will be candidates to start.”

…possible changes to the system: “When I came in, I said that I would adapt to the situation we had. Back then, it was about stability and resilience. Against Stuttgart, for example, we decided to match the opposition’s shape. That worked, so we can tick that one off. But it doesn’t mean we’ll do the same against Augsburg. We’re able to react in both shapes, whether that’s with a back three or a back four. We’ll make that decision based on the game. For me, it’s not ultimately about the system, but about how you perform on the pitch.”

…the league situation: “You won’t hear me calling the Augsburg game a final. I came here to get the best possible outcome from this season. The first target was staying up. If we look at our season like a boxing match, then we were well and truly knocked to the canvas at St. Pauli a few weeks ago. A lot of people thought we wouldn’t get back up. That spurred us on, and I think we’re in a good position at the moment. We’ll go into the final three games looking to get as much as we possibly can from them, and then we’ll see where we stand at the end. Right now, we’re taking each game on its own merits. Saturday is another matchday against a good opponent, and there are strong sides to come after that in Hoffenheim and Dortmund.”

…results elsewhere: “The important thing is that we focus on ourselves. There can be no talk of a comfortable cushion. Nobody in the team is thinking about who’s playing whom this weekend or when those games are taking place. That doesn’t help – it only distracts you. What we can influence starts at 15:30 CEST on Saturday at the Weserstadion.”

…the fans’ support: “The last home game showed in impressive fashion what this club can do when everyone pulls together. So this isn’t a demand, but a request for the fans to give us that same backing again in a game where we have the chance to take a big step, and to give us energy. Together with the fans, the team have shown that they can go beyond their limits. We all want to celebrate a positive end to the season together on matchday 34, and to make that happen we need to put the work in again now so we can finally dismiss the threat of relegation.”

…Mitchell Weiser: “We should take a bit of pressure off the situation. If our season ends after 34 games, it would be very difficult to get Mitch back on the pitch. He hasn’t even been integrated into team training yet, so the risk would be too high. Even though I don’t want to rule anything out, I don’t expect him to return for a competitive game this season.”