Having spent my Wednesday evening immersed in equal parts Werder Bremen v Sampdoria Champions League playoff and Jonathan Wilson’s What is a playmaker’s role in the modern game?, I find it abnormally appropriate to comment on Aaron Hunt’s man of the match performance in Bremen’s eventual 3-1 first leg home victory v Antonio Cassano and Sampdoria.

As Bremen were quickly forced to put the Mesut Ozil saga to bed behind them, so too did Bremen boss Thomas Schaaf call upon Aaron Hunt to occupy the space between midfield and attack in the highly important Champions League playoff.

“The playmaker is his side’s prime creator, the hook that joins midfield and attack”, Wilson pointedly states in his piece that appeared on the Guardian this week. Such was Hunt’s exact positioning in the midfield diamond that Schaaf elected to implement in a tie that saw Bremen create chance after chance in a scoreless first half.

Easily summed up and specifically stated, Bremen’s midfield diamond of Hunt, Torsten Frings, Tim Borowski and Philipp Bargfrede were just plain better than Sampdoria’s four man midfield of Semioli, Palombo, Tissone and Mannini. They were quicker and more accurate in the pass and while Sampdoria’s 4-4-2 failed to create much in attack, they were forced to defend in long stretches while Bremen pushed forward for the opener.

Because of the work rate, accuracy and overall solid play of Frings as the holder in midfield, Hunt was able to get forward and support the forward two of Hugo Almeida and Claudio Pizzaro. What then essentially became a forward three in attack linked up well with each other while Hunt was also able to advance down the left on numerous occasions.

After all the tactical prowess, passing and link play, Bremen found their break through with a fantastic strike just outside the box from right back Clemens Fritz. Werder Bremen scored twice more through a penalty and a neat one, two finished by Pizzaro from Almeida.

While on the topic of playmakers, young Bremen starlet Marko Marin made a late appearance in the 85th minute when Bremen were 3-0 up. Marin excites me and looks set to be a perfect replacement for the aforementioned and recently departed Ozil. Marin is slight and short but quick and explosive. He’s most comfortable down the left flank, but has the skill, vision and talent to slot behind two central strikers as Hunt did so effectively v Sampdoria on Wednesday.

Bremen are a talented side with a good coach. If they can grab an early away goal in the second leg in Genoa next week, they’ll be all but set for the lucrative group stages of the Champions League and I’ll be looking forward to their exciting brand of attacking football this season.