No filling jug, no problem. Werder celebrates their first win of the season without the national striker who has moved to Dortmund. And what a.
First game without Niclas Füllkrug, first win: Werder Bremen started with a clear 4-0 (1-0) win over FSV Mainz 05 after the national striker switched to Borussia Dortmund.
After the false start to the season with the early end of the DFB Cup and two opening defeats in the league, the first three of the season gives the Greens and Whites a much-needed respite in the upcoming international break. In front of 41,000 spectators in the Weser Stadium, Marvin Ducksch scored the goals in Bremen’s deserved victory with a converted penalty kick (3rd minute), Jens Stage (53rd), Leonardo Bittencourt (82nd) and Justin Njinmah (83rd).
Bremen were unimpressed by the turbulent final days of the transfer window. As expected, Dawid Kownacki, who came from Fortuna Düsseldorf in the summer, took the place of Füllkrug in the starting lineup because his successor Rafael Borré was not yet in the squad. The 27-year-old Colombian, who the North Germans borrowed from Eintracht Frankfurt for a year, only arrived on the Weser in the morning. The striker even completed the obligatory medical check-up in Frankfurt on Friday.
Borré watched the game against Mainz from the stands. Only after the upcoming international break, during which he will be active for his home country Colombia, will Borré prove that he can close the big gap that Füllkrug left both as a scorer on the pitch and as a leader in the dressing room.
Bremen’s managing director Frank Baumann once again justified the change of the national player with the financial constraints of the club. “The focus was on the economic necessity of having to achieve significant transfer surpluses,” said Baumann on Sky. “We managed the mix between economic stability and a competitive team well,” said Baumann, also with a view to the transfers of the two Belgians Senne Lynen and Olivier Deman.
It is now up to coach Ole Werner to form a team with a little more choice, but without a filling jug, which will hold the class at the end of the season. And the Werder coach had made it clear before the Mainz game that he wanted to take on this complicated task. “I’ve said before that the season will basically be a challenge for us,” said Werner. “I’m up for this task. It’s not a challenge that knocks me out.”
The team also acted robust enough against weak Mainz to finally celebrate the first sense of achievement of the season. The hosts started super motivated and took the lead early on through Ducksch. Füllkrug’s long-standing strike partner has even more responsibility after his departure. It was all the more bitter that the attacker had to leave Mainz after just over 20 minutes because of thigh problems.
But Werder put away this setback as well. Before the break, the green-whites failed to extend their lead a few times. After the break, however, they made everything clear and also deservedly won at altitude.
Source: Stern
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