Werder’s 2016/17 Bundesliga season was one of highs and lows, disappointments and jubilation. After a slow start in the first half of the campaign, Alexander Nouri’s side took off in February, stirring back and embarking on a run of success which eventually saw them miss out on European football by a whisker. This is the second of three articles re-capping the season, looking at parts three and four of season - covering the games from the beginning of December up until the home defeat by Gladbach in February.
It was definitely worth a camera pan of the Weser Stadion, just to see the relief etched on the faces of those in the stands after 90 minutes. A 2-1 win over table rivals FC Ingolstadt meant so much, and it was clear from the look of the faces from all of those involved. “We deserved the break, but we have worked so so hard to turn things around,“ said Fin Bartels, who struck the winner from close range in the closing stages to end a run of seven weeks without a win. Max Kruse had given the home side the lead early on after a cross from the right. The long-awaited win came at just the right time and se Nouri’s team up for three tough opponents. Werder would round out the year undefeated from games with Hertha BSC, FC Köln and 1899 Hoffenheim.
Kruse’s second goal in four starts dealt Hertha their first home defeat of the season after six straight wins and also earned Werder their first away win in nine months and was also the first time they had kept a clean sheet all season. The Green-Whites went on to concede against Köln and Hoffenheim but rescued a point from both games thanks to goals from Serge Gnabry. “Every Bundesliga game is unpredictable” said Gnabry looking back on his first half season with a first division Bundesliga side. The young German, who scored a hat-trick on his debut for his national side against San Marino in November. The 21-year-old would go onto to grab 11 goals for the campaign, but his goals against Köln was his only in front of his own fans.
The 11th February saw Werder record a fourth straight defeat in the league for the second time in the season. The 1-0 defeat to Mönchengladbach saw every single Werder player want to leave the pitch Quietly and with no memories in their minds. The run had basically negated the worth of the strong run to see out 2016. It meant 12 of the first 20 games of the season had ended in defeat. In the wake of the Gladbach defeat Chief Executive Frank Baumann said: „I am always one of those people who will come to someone’s defence, but that was not good enough for a home game.“ Instead of fighting to climb up the table, Werder found themselves at their lowest ebb, which only got worse one week later against Augsburg. Despite leading twice, a late goal from Raol Bobadilla saw the Green-Whites leave South Germany with nothing after seeing three points slip through their fingers in the second half.
In addition Werder also failed to trip up the league’s two biggest sides, missing out on the chance to take points of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
„The effort was incredible, and the fans helped us to reach another but we were not able to repay them unfortunately,“ said Zlatko Junuzovic. It meant Bremen had bittersweet memories of the two games despite performing courageously for 90 minutes in both. But at the end of the day both results were further deflating outcomes to go along with the disastrous final fifteen minutes in Augsburg and the disappointment in Gladbach. “The fans were sick of hearing the same thing, that we are always saying we’ll put it behind us and go again in the next game.” Little did we know just how quickly the promise would be kept.
