Schaaf: We Really Have To Improve

Despite having numerous chances, the German side were unable to find a way to goal and were ultimately disappointed not to have opened their Champions League campaign with a win against the supposedly weakest side in the group.

Peruvian Claudio Pizarro had four good chances, and Werder seemed to lack the patience in the second 45 minutes to push home their advantage.

“We have to remember that we had five or six big chances to score, but were just unable to take them. Against a side like that, you have to play with more energy.

“There was really only one motto- go at them at full pelt. The chances were missed, so we need to improve” he said after the final whistle.

source: goal.com

Luckless Werder open CL campaign with a 0-0 draw

Werder Bremen had never managed to win their opening game in a Champions League campaign and there was to be no joy for the Green-Whites on Tuesday night at the Weser Stadium, as they took on rank underdogs Famagusta. Following a first period of constant pressure, trainer Thomas Schaaf’s side failed to create clear openings in the second half and after 90 minutes, the game finished disappointingly for Werder Bremen in a 0-0 draw.

There was just one change to the Werder starting eleven compared to the side which began against Cottbus at the weekend with Frank Baumann, who was suffering with a back problem, being replaced by Mesut Özil. Despite the loss of their captain, Werder started in concentrated fashion, and as the game progressed the Green-Whites enjoyed an increasingly larger amount of possession, without really creating many clear openings. The best openings of the first half fell to Claudio Pizarro, who had three chances to put his side in front in the first 45 minutes, but the Peruvian strikers luck was out and despite Werder clearly having the upper hand, the teams went into the break locked at 0-0.

Pizarro then had the first chance to open the scoring after the break as he turned a delivery from Diego goal-wards with a back-heeled flick but unfortunately the ball rolled out the wrong side of the post (53’). Werder had a great deal of difficulty creating clear chances and Thomas Schaaf reacted by introducing Sanogo in place of Rosenberg (57’) and, eight minutes later, Almeida for Pizarro. The Portuguese international had the best opening of the second half as he broke free in front of goal but slotted the ball wide of the target. In the end, the Green-Whites Group B start finished in a goalless draw, in spite of the home team having a 26:5 advantage so far as shots on goal were concerned. Thomas Schaaf’s men will have a chance to make up for tonight’s disappointment in the Champions League when they travel to Inter Milan on October 1st.
The game at a glance:

Werder Bremen: Wiese – Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Boenisch – Frings – Özil, D. Jensen – Diego – Rosenberg (57’ Sanogo), Pizarro (65’ Almeida); on the bench: Vander Vranjes Pasanen Harnik Prödl

Anorthosis Famagusta: Beqaj – A. Constantinou, Katsavakis, Nikolaou, Leiwakabessy – Dellas – Bardon (70’ Tsitaishvili), Laban – Paulo Costa (46’ Taher), Savio – Sosin (58’ Panagi); on the bench: Nagy, Frousos, Samaras, Georgiou

Goals: -

Attendance: Weser-Stadion: 34.690

Yellow cards: Frings, Özil, Rosenberg, Almeida – Laban, Taher

source: werder.de

Another game of patience?

Werder Bremen open their Champions League campaign with a home match against Cyprian side Anorthosis Famagusta tonight (20:45).

Famagusta are in the Champions League for the very first time, and Torsten Frings demands nothing less than three points.

“We’re playing at home, we simply have to beat Famagusta”, the German international said.

The Bundesliga runners-up have qualified for the Champions League for the fifth time in a row.

“They’ll hope for a draw”

Werder expect another “game of patience”, just like in the 3-0 win over Energie Cottbus. “They will sit back and hope for a draw”, Frings expects.

But there’s no need to underestimate the minnows, as sporting director Klaus Allofs clarified: “They’re a good team as our scouts have informed us.”

Victory over Olympiakos

The Cyprus team have won all home matches in the qualifying rounds without conceding a single goal, and they had eliminated Olympiakos — the Greek side had beaten Werder twice in last season’s group stage.

The only two players in Temuri Ketsbaja’s team who are well known in Germany are former Alemannia Aachen player Jeffrey Leiwakabessy and Traianos Dellas, a EURO 2004 winner with Greece.

Line-ups as expected:

Werder: Wiese – Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Boenisch – Baumann – Frings, Jensen – Diego – Rosenberg, Pizarro

Famagusta: Beqaj – Theodotou, Katsavakis, Constantinou, Leiwakabessy – Paulo Costa, Dellas, Laban, Bardon – Savio – Sosin

Referee: Craig Thompson (Scotland)

source: bundesliga.de

CL Preview: Werder Bremen – Anorthosis

The Champions League is back and Werder Bremen will be hoping that they can emulate fellow Bundesliga side Schalke 04, who made it all the way to the quarter finals last season.

Werder rarely make it out of the group stages, but have every chance this time round from Group B, which also contains Inter Milan, Panathinaikos, and Tuesday’s opponents Anorthosis Famagusta.  The Cypriots have already made history by making it to this stage of Europe’s premier club competition, becoming the first side from their country to do so.

Positive Start Expected

Werder enter their fifth successive Champions League campaign this season with the clear aim of getting off to a winning start and finally breaking their poor run and making it out of the Group stage.  The last four seasons have seen Thomas Schaaf’s side lose their opening group fixtures but a game against the Cypriot minnows gives them an excellent chance to rectify that.

Last season they lost their opener to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu before going down to a shock home defeat to Olympiacos.  They recovered well against Lazio and even beat Real at home, but it wasn’t enough to see them through and they finished third in their group for the third year in a row.

Werder trainer Thomas Schaaf is however not underestimating the task ahead of his side or presuming that a win is a formality.  “All these small teams qualified for this stage by beating higher-profile sides, so they must be strong” he explained.

“They know how exciting the Champions League is and put in an unbelievable effort.  These teams concentrated and focused so hard in the qualifiers that they got through.

“A good start is always a positive” Schaaf continued.  “If you can dominate and beat your opponents, it’s good for the team and for morale.  It’s good to know you can win games – that’s very important.”

Werder however haven’t made the best of starts to their Bundesliga campaign although they did grab their first three points of the season at the weekend against Energie Cottbus.

The Green and Whites drew their opening two games to Bielefeld and Schalke before going down to a 3-2 defeat to last season’s second division champions Borussia Mönchengladbach.  Saturday’s 3-0 win over Cottbus will surely have boosted their confidence.

“We just haven’t been at the top of our game” Schaaf mused.  “We always set high standards.  When we reach them we can see what else is possible.  If we play well, I believe we can reach the knockout stage and then have the ability to go even further.  But first we have to survive the group stage and this will be difficult enough.”

History Makers

Cypriot newspaper ‘Politis’ described Anorthosis qualifying for the Group stage of the Champions league as “the greatest achievement in Cypriot football history” and that really is no exaggeration.

A 3-1 aggregate win over Greek giants Olympiacos saw Famagusta through to the lucrative Group stage of Europe’s premier competition.

They become the first team from Cyprus to survive the qualifying round stage.  Many are talking of a fairy tale, but trainer Temuri Ketsbaia is of the opinion that it is a just reward plenty of effort and hard work.

“This is wonderful for Anorthosis and Cyprus” he said.  “For a team from a nation as small as Cyprus and with a budget as small as ours to get into the Champions League is an absolute dream.

“But dreams need work.  In football, you don’t achieve your dreams by going to bed at night and waking up in the morning to discover that you are in the Champions League.  You need to work and that’s what we will continue to do now that we are in the group stage.”

The Cypriot domestic league is only in its infancy with two games gone.  Both games  have been won, but they did suffer defeat in the Super Cup against rivals APOEL, who are also in European action this week against Schalke in the Uefa Cup.

FORM GUIDE

Werder Bremen

13/09/08  Energie Cottbus  (h)  WON 3-0  (Bundesliga)

30/08/08  Borussia M’gladbach  (a)  LOST 3-2  (Bundesliga)

23/08/08  Schalke  (h)  DREW 1-1  (Bundesliga)

16/08/08  Arminia Bielefeld (a)  DREW 2-2  (Bundesliga)

12/08/08  Esbjerg (a)  WON 0-3  (Friendly)

09/08/08  Eintracht Nordhorn (a)  WON 3-9  (German Cup)

Anorthosis Famagusta

12/09/08  APEP (h)  WON 3-0  (A Division)

01/09/08  Doxa (a)  WON 0-1  (A Division)

27/08/08  Olympiacos (a)  LOST 1-0  (CL 3rd round qualifier)

23/08/08  APOEL (n)  LOST  (Cypriot Super Cup)

13/08/08  Olympiacos (h)  WON 3-0  (CL 3rd round qualifier)

06/08/08  Rapid Vienna (a)  LOST 3-1  (CL 2nd round qualifier)

TEAM NEWS

Werder Bremen

Werder trainer Thomas Schaaf looks set to have a full squad to choose from ahead of the Anorthosis games after Per Mertesacker and Torsten Frings returned to first team action at the weekend against Cottbus.

Possible  Starting XI: Wiese, Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Boenisch, Baumann, Frings, Jensen, Diego, Rosenberg, Pizarro

Anorthosis

Anorthosis trainer Temuri Ketsbaia has largely used a settled squad in the Champions League qualifiers thus far with ten players playing in all six of the matches so far.  He may however choose to change things around a little and bring in some more experienced hands against Werder.

Dobrasinovic is suspended for this match, while midfielder Skopelitis is ruled out with an ankle injury.  He has travelled to Belgium to receive treatment.  Stefanos Voskarides is also out with a foot injury.

Experienced duo Traianos Dellas and Savio could start for the Cypriots.

Possible Starting XI: Beqaj, Theodotou, Katsavakis, Constantinou, Leiwakabessy, Paulo Costa, Dellas, Laban, Bardon, Savio, Sosin

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Werder Bremen-Diego

The bad news for Anorthosis is that Brazilian midfielder Diego looks to be hitting a rich vein of form right now which could spell trouble for the Cypriot side on Tuesday.  He wasn’t flavour of the month at the Weser Stadion after going AWOL at the Olympics, but since his return he has scored in both his two Bundesliga appearances and helped Werder to their first league win of the season.  The stage is set for him to show a global Champions League audience just what he can do.

Anorthosis-Lukasz Sosin

The 31 year old Pole was the joint top scorer in the league last season with 20 goals in 31 appearances and he also won the leading scorer award three times in a row between 2003 and 2006.  He has started this season in good scoring form too and will want to continue that against Werder in the Champions League opener.  He scored twice against Olympiacos and once against Rapid in the qualifying rounds, and has bagged a goal in each of Anorthosis’ two league games this season.

source: goal.com

Frings: They Cypriots Will Be Tough

Werder had to sweat and toll until they finally achieved the breakthrough Energie Cottbus on the weekend, and Frings is predicting that the Cypriot debutants will be just as tough a nut to crack.

their Champions League Group B opener on Tuesday evening.

“We must again have patience,” the Germany midfielder was quoted as saying in the Nordsee Zeitung.

“They will play just like (Cottbus). They will come here and defend in order to get a point.”

Werder enter their fifth successive Champions League campaign this season with the clear aim of getting off to a winning start and finally breaking their poor run and making it out of the Group stage.  The last four seasons have seen Thomas Schaaf’s side lose their opening group fixtures but a game against the Cypriot minnows still has to be seen as an excellent chance to rectify that.

source: goal.com