Werder Bremen Secured 3rd Last Season Under Manager Thomas Schaaf.

Manager Thomas Schaaf will be delighted with the fact that many of the youngsters under his wing have sprung to worldwide success in South Africa this summer during the World Cup. Mesut Ozil, in particular, was a massive success. Schaaf will be confident in his ability, and his players’ abilities, to challenge for domestic honours this season in the Bundesliga. Despite the pressure of other aspiring Bundesliga champions in the form of Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke 04, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, Schaaf’s Werder Bremen side will be confident that their squad has enough quality to meet any and all expectations this season.

Key Players

The aforementioned Mesut Ozil will be pivotal to Werder Bremen’s season if they have any intentions of challenging for domestic honours this season. As we’ve just seen during the World Cup, Mesut Ozil’s sensational ability to both create and score goals can turn a game on it’s head in an instant.

It isn’t just up top where Werder are impressive. At the back, they have a man-mountain known as Per Mertesacker. The German international was an absolute shield to Manuel Neuer’s goal at the World Cup, and will be plowing opposition opponents out of the way for Werder this season alongside Naldo, who is another intense physical specimen. I think it’s relatively safe to say that Werder will not concede goals from set pieces or crosses this season.

Newcomers

Marko Arnautovic has joined the club from FC Twente after completing a season on-loan at European and Italian champions Inter last season. While he failed to make too much of an impact at Inter, he does look to be a fantastic prospect for the future. Under Thomas Schaaf’s wing, and with the tuition of more experienced players like Huge Almeida and Claudio Pizarro, Arnautovic could well turn into a top Bundesliga striker.

Felix Kroos has also joined the club from FC Hansa Rostock. Felix is the younger brother of Bayern Munich’s Toni Kroos, and is another Werder Bremen player who is set for a very bright future. He is an attacking midfield player in the mould of his brother, and will look to learn his trade by partnering up with Mesut Ozil, Aaron Hunt and Marko Marin on the training field. At 19 years old, Felix Kroos is only two or three years younger than the first-teamers playing in his position. Kudos to the wonderful youth setup in Germany for being able to continuously pump out fantastic talent that can compete at the top level at such an early age.

Expectations

Werder Bremen finished in an impressive 3rd place last season and will look to continue their domestic success after reinforcing an already strong squad. Mesut Ozil, Torsten Frings, and Per Mertesacker are the spine of a very competent Bundesliga side that will continue to challenge for a European spot and domestic glory.