21 different players took to the pitch for Werder in the Hinrunde, the fewest out of any team in the Bundesliga. Florian Kohfeldt seems to be sticking to the phrase “never change a winning team.”
21 different players took to the pitch for Werder in the Hinrunde, the fewest out of any team in the Bundesliga. Florian Kohfeldt seems to be sticking to the phrase “never change a winning team.”
Rotation and competition for places means that players have to work very hard to get into the starting XI and stay there. This therefore improves the quality of the team. “Up until now, there hasn’t been enough friction in the team. The players who aren’t satisfied need to look at their situation, because just talking about it doesn’t get us anywhere. A certain type of friction improves the quality of the team. We missed that sometimes in the Hinrunde, and we’ve worked on it,” said Max Kruse.
Currently, there’s more competition than ever at Werder after the club’s winter training camp in South Africa. One position that’s being fought for at the moment is in central defence next to Niklas Moisander. Sebastian Langkamp filled in well during Milos Veljkovic’s time out through injury and could keep his place in the starting XI after some good performances.
The boss knows that this could be a strange situation for Veljkovic, who was previously a regular starter: “He needs to get to grips with the fact that he isn’t a guaranteed starter anymore. He had a good game in South Africa, he’s training well at the moment, and he’s not making the decision easy.” In the eyes of captain Max Kruse, training also needs to be very competitive: “There’s players who are unsatisfied week in, week out. You have to tell them that they can’t accept that.”
Milos Veljkovic has taken these words on board and is battling for his spot in the side. Florian Kohfeldt also has some difficult decisions to make in attack. For example, Milot Rashica worked with coaches on taking chances in South Africa. “Milot has been busy working on that. I’m hoping and expecting that he’ll take the next step,” added Kohfeldt.
Werder’s next game is away to Hannover 96 this Saturday, kicking off at 15:30 CET.
