Head coach Alexander Nouri appeared in front of a small group from the press at the Weser-Stadion with some good news to share. Nouri informed the media about the current situation with personnel shortly before the first training session of the week for the Green-Whites. And Nouri had some positive news to tell, namely that Claudio Pizarro and Philipp Bargfrede will be able to train this week, while the Werder coach is also optimistic about the possibility of Max Kruse being involved.
After testing his progress, Pizarro has given Werder the green light following his last-minute withdrawal before the friendly against Osnabrück in the warm-up due to a minor muscle issue. “We have been told that he is 100% ready to play,” said Nouri. The Werder coach confirmed that the striker could make an appearance against Frankfurt. “We’ll have to see if it is reasonable and in the player’s interests to bring him on. We have been cautious with him during the past week and dealt with his injury sensibly.”
The same goes for Max Kruse and Philipp Bargfrede, both of whom celebrated a promising comeback against Osnabrück. “We have to monitor how both of them deal with burdens that come with being back in action, but we are very optimistic,” said Nouri, who may also recall Izet Hajrovic and Thanos Petsos after they recently returned from the international break. Both are currently undergoing regeneration training.
Florian Grillitsch, Zlatko Junuzovic and Milos Veljkovic were also back on the pitch on Tuesday morning, having all pulled out of their national teams with minor injuries and were able to completely regain their fitness in Bremen. However the Green-Whites head coach must continue to be patient with yet another group of three, namely Luca Caldirola, Justin Eilers and Lamine Sané, who are still only able to train individually.
Jaroslav Drobny is also yet to return to first-team training. Nouri has concluded that the club will have to “wait and see when he is ready.” Nouri went on to say that it is not yet clear whether he will return on Wednesday, Thursday or at a later date.
