Almost as soon as the final whistle was blown the concentration was on the task ahead. The goalless draw with Köln was not enough to stay above the drop zone as Frankfurt’s win over Dortmund saw Bremen slide to the relegation play-off spot."We knew that it would go down to the last day and we are prepared for that," said Thomas Eichin.
WERDER.DE caught up with the players and management staff afterwards to get their thoughts on the game.
Zlatko Junuzovic: "It could’ve gone either way today. Both sides had chances and we had a perfectly good goal chopped off unfortunately. But we forgot about that one soon enough. Now it’s the showdown against Frankfurt at the weekend and we’ll go into it with optimism."
Clemens Fritz: "It was an intense game. Köln were very compact and we found it difficult to get through the line of defence. We had two good chances and with a bit of luck we would’ve won. We’ll take the point and win next week. The good thing is that we can get out of this situation ourselves."
Viktor Skripnik: "We did well and will take the point. They were a very organised opponent. We’ll see how important that point was on the last day. Now our future is in our own hands with the game against Frankfurt. We won’t get nervous and will stay positive."
Clemens Fritz: "We already knew that it would be tight right up until the end. It won’t be easy and there’s a lot of pressure. We will work hard beforehand, give it our all and get the win. We will be at home with the fans behind us. I am confident that we’ll do it."
Viktor Skripnik: "We now have a final at our own stadium. It’s important that we can decide it for ourselves and don’t have to rely on others. The winner stays up."
Thomas Eichin: "We knew that it would go down to the last day and we are prepared for that. We’re at home and need the win. It will be nerve-wracking but we’ve shown that we can deal with this pressure. We’ll have the fans behind us but they can’t score for us – we need to do that ourselves. I am 100% convinced that Werder will stay up."
Felix Wiedwald: "We’ve had good performances at home. We need to repeat that next week. We won’t be scared and we’ll get the job done."
Thomas Eichin: "The referee got it wrong. I saw myself from the sidelines that it was a perfectly good goal. An official has to make snap decisions though, and sometimes they make mistakes."
Clemens Fritz: "It was a clear goal. We mustn’t rue on it because we can’t change anything now."
Viktor Skripnik: "I don’t blame the referee. Mistakes can happen. He was under pressure but there’s nothing more to be said."
Felix Wiedwald: "It’s always important to get a clean sheet but that’s not necessarily something that we talk about specifically. I would have preferred to win 5-4."
Thomas Eichin: "We had a very strong keeper in net today. He kept us in the game with his saves today. The clean sheet is good for the whole team."
Zlatko Junuzovic: "Wiede did well today and the first game without conceding does us good."
Viktor Skripnik: "It’s great that we got our first clean sheet of the season, although I would’ve preferred to concede four and get the three points."
Thomas Eichin: "Fin is an important player for us so the ban isn’t great. That was a game filled with passion, however, so sometimes that happens."
Viktor Skripnik: "That’s very annoying. He gives us power and scored twice against Stuttgart. We need to believe in ourselves and that we have the players and the quality."
