Philipp Bargfrede will be out until January with an achilles injury. The 29-year-old won’t be available until Werder’s winter training camp in South Africa. Despite the bad news, the injury could be a chance for other players to step up and show what they can do in the first team.
“We couldn’t just ignore the injury – we knew that and it was never the plan. We’ll spread out the responsibility,” said head coach Florian Kohfeldt. Several midfield players will now battle for the chance to prove themselves in the starting XI, starting in Freiburg on Sunday.
An obvious replacement for Bargfrede is Nuri Sahin. He’s played in the No. 6 position several times this season already. “He played in this position against Hertha because we needed a player like Nuri,” said Kohfeldt.
There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that it will, in fact, be Sahin who steps in to replace Bargfrede. Kohfeldt knows his qualities on the pitch well: “He can dictate the rhythm and lead the team.” However, Sahin isn’t the only man in the frame. Kevin Möhwald is “always in the mix to play in central midfield” and Jojo Eggestein “had a solid performance at No. 8 last week,” added the boss.
Ole Käuper, who returned from injury recently, will not be in the squad against Freiburg. “With Ole, I’m more concerned with his development into a Bundesliga player,” said Kohfeldt. The boss also added that we’ll have to wait and see whether he gets this practice through training or Bundesliga appearances.
Changing the shape of the midfield would also be an option, but one thing is for sure: Florian Kohfeldt has a plan for moving forward without Philipp Bargfrede.
