“We know that we’ll need to perform consistently throughout the season to qualify for Europe,” said Philipp Bargfrede, who is in favour of setting the ambitious goal: “I think that you need to set ambitious goals in order to achieve them.” With the players, it’s always been their goal to qualify for Europe, and now they have the belief that they can achieve this target. “We’re capable,” said Bargfrede. “We have the quality,” added Kohfeldt: “It’s dangerous to set goals that are too ambitious, because you’re immediately setting yourself up for failure. We think this goal is realistic.”
It’s clear that this is an ambitious goal for the season that will be hard to achieve. “Normally, there are six or seven teams who have more means or budget available and they make up the European places,” said Frank Baumann. The Werder legend, who spent five seasons in the Champions League with the club, added: “We want to be ready if one of them slips up.”