Positive personnel developments

The Werder players are extremely eager to get going against 1899 Hoffenheim. The anticipation ahead of the clash with one of the newly promoted sides was distinctly noticeable at training on Thursday, as almost the whole team was involved in the session. To add to the positive sporting headlines of the last week, there was also some positive news on Werder’s personnel situation.

“We will have to wait and see how some of the players deal with the added strain of full team training, but I expect everyone to be available for the game against Hoffenheim,” remarked Werder coach Thomas Schaaf. That group of players also included Per Mertesacker, who has recovered from flu and went through an individual session on Thursday: “On Monday, things didn’t look so good but I’m happy to say that I feel a lot better now,” commented the lofty central defender on Thursday afternoon.

Daniel Jensen and Martin Harnik were both back in full team training again on Thursday. The Dane had been suffering from an Achilles tendon strain which kept him out of action whilst the Austrian international Harnik had caught a cold. Torsten Frings got through the complete team session and will be available to play on Saturday.

source: werder.de