"We may well have to set up differently”

It’s yet another crucial tie in the Bundesliga this weekend for SV Werder Bremen. The Green-Whites are counting down to a 15:30 CET kick-off away at 17th-placed VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday, 21st March, where they’ll be hoping to make it seven points clear of the direct relegation spots. The team will be missing no fewer than nine players for the clash with a direct rival. Daniel Thioune took to the press room this Thursday, discussing his plans for dealing with the absences and sharing his thoughts on other topics. Here’s the head coach on...

…both Jens Stage and Senne Lynen missing the trip: “One look at the list of players out can tell you just how thin we’re stretched, but we’re not entirely out of options. Senne’s injury is a muscle strain to the adductor. We’re currently aiming for him to be back with us by the end of the international break. Senne has shown over recent years just how irreplaceable he is. We already had to look for a solution to that last week. To then also not have Jens Stage available makes it even more difficult, because he’s such a leader of men and also one of our most dangerous goalscorers. I’ll have to have a proper look at the squad to see how we deal with that loss.”

…potential options to come in: “The story of the game might be about Leo Bittencourt, then, as he’s one match off his 300th Bundesliga appearance. But looking at the wider picture, we may well end up having to set up differently in terms of that position. With the returns of Samuel Mbangula, Felix Agu and Karim Coulibaly, we’ve got a few more options available to us, as they’re no longer limited to 45 minutes. That means we have the option of bringing them on earlier or even naming them in the lineup as a way of dealing with those absences in the middle of the park.”

…Patrice Čović as an option: “I think that when you’re such a young player, there’s almost nothing to lose and you can take this kind of game as the perfect opportunity to show just what you’re capable of. The impression I’ve got of Patrice over the last few weeks points to him having a very big future. He is a very good footballer, he’s got real quality when it comes to finishing and passing. Where he maybe lacks a little is on the energy side of things, both in attack and defence, and when it comes to imposing himself in the challenge. These are all things that we can help him to develop on. He’s got minutes under his belt over recent weeks and considering all the absences we’re dealing with, it’s very likely that we’ll see more of him on the pitch. The question is whether he’ll feature from minute one or come in a little later. That’s also partly down to the fact that we’ve had a few players in the middle who have proven their quality recently. I’ll also just need options off the bench in this game, and that’s also affected by the absences, of course.

…how to rediscover the team’s bite following the loss to Mainz: “I’ve toned things down a bit. I thought that we were quite critical of ourselves and maybe took that too far, in fact. Not because there was nothing in that game to say we’d come on in any respect, but rather because I’ve said that this season is going to be difficult for us right up to the final day. It’s a bit like a boxing match. We had to take a lot of heavy blows in the first few rounds, then we found our rhythm to an extent and felt a bit more solid, and now we’ve just had another round where we didn’t perform how we would’ve liked. There are still a few rounds to go. On a more tactical note, it’s also about getting even sharper in how we approach the space. We’ve done a lot of work on our positional play. Against Mainz, though, it looked a lot like how it did a few weeks ago: good between our box and theirs, but actually in the penalty area down either end, not good enough. The answer lies in once again helping the lads to create chances under pressure and defend well even without numerical superiority.”

…the significance of the game: “It’s a crucial game. There’s no getting around that. But I’ll go back to the analogy with the boxing. It’s just one of a few rounds. Next weekend won’t seal our fate as to whether we stay up. For that reason, I’m looking at it in this context, one more round and not a final. That being said, I would obviously have liked to be heading to Wolfsburg with a seven-point gap on them. The good news is that whatever happens on Saturday, they can’t leapfrog us. That means that even if the pressure is so big this time that we don’t manage to secure all three points, we’ve got another chance two weeks later to show another side to ourselves. Of course, though, our job is to prepare the boys in such a way that we come out on top in this important matchup.”

…VfL Wolfsburg as an opponent: “Even though Dieter Hecking hasn’t been there too long at this point, I think that his experience and the situations he’s been in before mean he’s well equipped to prepare this side in a way that sees them end the season successfully. I would also say, though, that we have a massive chance with this game. I think that it will all come down to the basics this weekend. Both teams are fighting to keep their place in the league, but both teams also know how to play good football.