It was not a peaceful night for Marco Bode, despite his side’s final-day win securing them a playoff spot. “Too much adrenaline,“ flowed through Werder’s Supervisory Board Chairman, after the 6-1 victory against Cologne, admitted Bode on Sunday morning, and he admitted. “We’ve not achieved anything yet. It’s still a tricky situation, and we’ve got one foot in the second division at the moment.”
For Bode, the enormously important “cup final” against Cologne was only the first step. “We have two more knockout games still to play. We are confident, but also cautious, because we’ve had negative experiences again and again this season after victories.” Whoever Werder will play in the play-offs, Bode thinks the team itself will be largely insignificant. Both Heidenheim or Hamburg will pose very different challenges for the green-and-whites, but according to Bode they are “equally strong.”
The day after Rashica, Osako and Co. fought against Cologne, as well as the favour from Union Berlin winning against Fortuna to ensure Bremen didn’t go down immediately, Bode found himself reflecting on the season as a whole. “It remains a really poor season. We will look back and talk in a lot of detail about what knowledge we can hope to glean from it and what we can do differently in the future.”
With 31 points at the end of the season, it is Werder’s statistically worst points haul in the club’s history, so an intense analysis is required, Bode made clear. The board will look at the past few months after the second leg takes place. Until then, it is full focus on Werder Bremen’s two more “finals”. “It’s in our own hands again,” said Bode.
