The run continues! The Green-Whites took another huge step towards safety with a 3-0 home win over Schalke. “We know that there’s still a long way to go and we can start talking about other things once we’ve ensured our safety,” said Maximilian Eggestein. Werder have now amassed 35 points this season and sit 8th in the Bundesliga table.
We caught up with some of the key men involved in the game as Werder made it seven unbeaten, having taken 19 points from those seven games.
Milos Veljkovic: “Above all, our aim today was to be compact and keep a clean sheet. We knew that we would get chances on the break and, fortunately, we were able to get the goals.”
Zlatko Junuzovic: “We weren’t amazing today, it was a fairly ordinary game. Schalke made life difficult for us. The goals came at a good time for us and then it was just a question of belief.”
Niklas Moisander: “It was an unbelievable evening for all of us. The first half wasn’t amazing, but the second was. We’re very happy. We’ll take a lot of belief into our next match. It’s good that we kept a clean sheet. More than anything, we worked very hard defensively.”
Alexander Nouri: “The aim today was to again bring our togetherness onto the pitch. We put a lot into the game and defended well. I must compliment the team who showed a lot of heart today. We’re giving everything and making progress. Confidence is growing with the results.”
Max Kruse: “It was a hard-fought match and Schalke played well and stopped us getting into the game. In the first half they had some good opportunities, but in the second half we were better and we’ve been scoring goals at key moments recently – we did that again today.”
Theodor Gebre Selassie: “I’m very pleased with the victory and my goal. It was a good evening, just as we had imagined. With this game you can see how important self-belief is in football. We played good football and got the points. We’re all there for each other, but we mustn’t think that we’ve already achieved something.”
Fin Bartels: “In the first half we took the lead out of nothing. After the break, Wiedi kept our lead intact and then we scored our goals at the right time. That’s happening to us at the moment, even when we’re not playing particularly well. But we always believe and our belief has increased over the last few weeks. We know that we’ll get our chance in every game.”
Milos Veljkovic: “The victories are the result of hard work. The many training sessions are paying off and Alexander Nouri’s contribution is huge. He prepares us well and we speak a lot about the games and things that we can implement as a team.”
Zlatko Junuzovic: “We work together, we’re meticulous and try to implement what the coaches tell us. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn’t go so well. We’ll continue to work hard.”
Niklas Moisander: “We’re in good form. It was important that we did well after the international break. We’ve done this with these two victories. I think that Frankfurt will offer a different sort of challenge. After Friday, we’ll have a better idea of where we’re at.”
Fin Bartels: “We need to collect a few more points and not get carried away, but be pleased with this good run.”
Alexander Nouri: “The fans are allowed to dream, but we’re keeping our feet on the ground. We know that the bridge between reality and fantasy is hard work and the gap beneath us is still small. We’re focussed only on the next game and on nothing else. There’s still a long way to go and we know that we still need some more points.”
Niklas Moisander: “Despite the victories we’re still in a similar position as we were a few weeks ago. We have a lot of belief at the moment and we have to keep working hard in the coming weeks.”
Theodor Gebre Selassie: “We don’t need to talk about the Europa League, rather we should just focus on our strengths and win as many games as possible. We’re on a good run at the minute and we hope that it continues. We’ll see what happens at the end of the season.”
Milos Veljkovic: “I honestly haven’t heard what the fans have been saying (laughs). The fans can dream, but we’re just concentrating on ourselves and taking it a game at a time.”
Zlatko Junuzovic: “You make the biggest mistakes when you’re doing well. We need to be realistic and we shouldn’t be talking about Europe. We know where we’ve come from and what we’ve done over the last few months. The league is hard and every match is difficult. We need to beware and everyone has the responsibility to remain realistic.”
Max Kruse: “Let the people dream. It’s nice if the Bremen fans are able to dream again, but as a team, we’re concentrating on the job in hand. We’ve been on a good run, but I remember going on a similar run with St. Pauli. We were 12th or 13th and then lost all of our remaining games and we ended up getting relegated. We know that we’re in a good position to put everything into our next game and we have a chance in Frankfurt to take another huge step, but Eintracht will do everything to try and prevent that.”
