After the 1-1 draw with TSG Hoffenheim, the Werder players ended their year on a five game winning streak and will now enjoy a well-deserved rest. Alexander Nouri has taken time to speak with WERDER.DE to discuss his first few months as the Green-White boss.
In this interview, Nouri speaks about the best moments as SVW coach so far, and what challenges he expects next year.
WERDER.DE: Alex, what an incredible year you’ve had. How do you feel looking back on the past few months?
Alexander Nouri: “It’s definitely been an intense time with a lot of ups and downs. However, the over-riding feeling is positive - to be able to work with the team, experiencing these emotions, being able to pave your way winning points and seeing progress.
WERDER.DE: Which moments have been particularly special for you this year?
Alexander Nouri: “Every Bundesliga match is an extremely intense feeling. Along with working daily with the coaching staff and the team, who themselves are a highlight, the victories in front of our home fans have also been real plus points. This feeling of togetherness between the team and the fans is special.”
WERDER.DE: How was the moment when you found out that would take over as interim manager at Werder?
Alexander Nouri: “I realised relatively quickly what significance it had, what this step in commitment would bring with it and how time consuming it would be. I have extremely close ties with Werder, I feel very close to the club, therefore I asked myself, how can I help the team? What can I change? I wanted to find the answers to these questions and take on the challenge.”
WERDER.DE: You’re always very humble in your answers, weren’t you also proud and excited about the trust that was put in you?
Alexander Nouri: “Of course I’m extremely proud, I feel a strong connection with the club with many memories. When you’ve experience the Ostkurve for yourself, which shares the emotions of the players, and now stand on the touchline, it’s something special. At the same time though you know what you need to have success in this job, what this step brings. You’re judged on results, you don’t know if you’ll receive the necessary patience or continuity. It’s a fast-moving business, therefore it was a mix of joy and a sense of responsibility.”
WERDER.DE: A milestone was the win against Wolfsburg in almost the last second, and your celebration was also special. What went through your head in that moment?
Alexander Nouri: “I was sort of thrown into the deep end. Against Mainz we had already put in a good performance, we fought and received a couple of blows at the end of the match. I had to go to the stands, we took these emotions into the week and then won at home as the underdogs. It was a very intense week with a number of decisions. A huge weight was lifted off our shoulders, you saw that in my celebration.”
WERDER.DE: You've taken 16 points from 13 games so far this season, how do you feel about your start?
Alexander Nouri: “We’re unhappy with our position in the table and that’s beyond doubt, but I think the last few weeks have given us reason to be optimistic. It was important that we scored points again against Hoffenheim, we have to continue to improve and carry on on our way, working hard. That requires you to give everything in training. These processes require time, and at the same time we have to get results.”
WERDER.DE: There was a run when you didn’t win in five games. What have you taken from this first small crisis as a Bundesliga coach?
Alexander Nouri: “In my opinion you should always take positives from these situations, they make you grow. You have to look at yourself critically, we as the coaching staff analysed everything in this phase critically but trusted our principles.”
WERDER.DE: Now you’ll have some down time, what is the holiday period like at home?
Alexander Nouri: “It’s fun and traditional at the same time (laughs). The children look forward to presents and we have a decorated tree and celebrate as a family. We’re only different if you consider what we eat, as we have one or two Persian dishes. I like to cook what my father would, who always prepared several dishes. My mum on the other hand likes to have the traditional goose.”
WERDER.DE: I’ve heard you also enjoy a few quiet days, will you be able to turn off at all?
Alexander Nouri: “I don’t believe I will. From experience, I’ve learnt that when you try to turn off, new ideas come to mind (laughs). But that’s what makes this job for me, it shows how much I enjoy it.”
WERDER.DE: Luckily you start again in ten days, the 2nd of January to be precise, as the training camp will begin. What will you work on in Spain to prepare for the second half of the season?
Alexander Nouri: We want to fine tune things, show on the pitch we have improved and become more flexible in our approach and systems. That’s what we’ll work on.”
WERDER.DE: What are your targets for the second half of the season?
Alexander Nouri: “We want to become more stable and be more convincing. Recently, set-backs haven’t unsettled us. We want to be able to change things up during the game, like our system, to challenge our opponents in different ways - we’ll have to work on that.”
WERDER.DE: Something which you have worked on that we have seen in the most recent games is a back-three, one of your favourite systems.
Alexander Nouri: “For me the decisive factor is that we use a system that best fits the skills of the players. When you have four fantastic forward players it’s about putting them on the pitch and it doesn’t matter if that’s a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. For me, principles are more important – what space I want to defend and with how many players, what kind of structure our build-up play has, what space has to be freed up, which spaces I want the players to run into. We played with a back-three with the U23s, it’s always an interesting option.”
WERDER.DE: You have a new player joining in the shape of Thomas Delaney in January which you’ve know about for some time. What do you expect of him, what kind of role will he play?
Alexander Nouri: “I’ve met Thomas twice, he’s a player that has already taken on a lot of responsibility despite being young, and he also has Champions League experience as the captain of Copenhagen. We think he’ll improve us. He has great qualities as an all-round midfielder, he covers a lot of ground between the 18 yard boxes, he can be dangerous in front of goal but also works very hard to regain possession. Thomas is a team player and a real character which will do us good. We look forward to having him.”
WERDER.DE: Your contract with Werder ends in the summer and there’s already a lot of speculation about what will happen. Are you already thinking about this?
Alexander Nouri: “I have great trust in Frank Baumann and those responsible at the club. We’re in close contact, speak often and openly. Therefore, I’m not thinking about it at the moment, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it - the work with the team has priority.
