Werder Bremen reflect on brutal run of opening fixtures: “Glad they’re behind us.”

Werder Bremen head coach Horst Steffen and squad captain Marco Friedl were simply grateful for the full time whistle after last night’s lopsided loss away at Bayern Munich. Both Werder professionals had complaints about the match officiating to register, but didn’t make excuses for the fact that they weren’t able to truly compete with the Bundesliga record champions. The two gripes were nevertheless related to Bayern’s first two goals.

Two scenes in particular aggravated Friedl and Steffen. Bayern attacker Michael Olise won a corner in the 21st-minute. FCB defender Jonathan Tah would convert the subsequent 22nd-minute dead-ball into the opening 1-0 goal. Replays nevertheless confirmed that Olise had shoved Bremen’s Felix Agu in the lead-up. Beyond that, Friedl thought the 44th-minute penalty that enabled Harry Kane to convert the 2-0 from the spot was soft.

Friedl and Steffen both noted their discontent when conducting their post-match interviews with Sky Germany. Steffen angrily noted “I’m sorry, but that has to be called!” when referencing Olise’s foul on Agu. Friedl reacted in the same fashion, grousing “That’s definitely a foul!” when given a chance to survey the scene again.

“I’m always fair when it comes to fouls,” Friedl said of his duel with Kane inside the box shortly before the end of the first-half. “I don’t make any movement. He runs into me. There’s definitely contact and one can see that. Whether that’s enough for a penalty? I find that difficult to say to be perfectly honest.“

“I have the feeling that Marco puts his foot out and he [Kane] runs into it from behind,” Steffen said in support of his skipper. “So, do excuse me, but I see it differently.“

“We still deserved to lose,” Friedl then added in the mixed zone afterwards. “We’re allowed to concede some goals, but we’ve conceded far too many this season. The next few weeks are crucial for us. We have to get our first home win of the season next against St. Pauli.“

“We couldn’t really work well in possession because the pressure from Bayern was too great,” Steffen said at the post-match press conference. “We couldn’t take a 0-1 deficit into the locker room.

“A few bright spots from us, but it was a deserved victory for them,” Steffen continued. “For us, it was a tough opening five weeks and we’re glad that they’re behind us.

“We had tough opponents [in the form of Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, SC Freiburg, and Bayern Munich],” Steffen concluded. “These were really tough teams to play against and we’re happy to be heading home to face St. Pauli next week.“

Indeed, Bremen’s opening fixture list was quite difficult. Four out of the five teams faced presently compete in Europe. Bremen were only able to win against Gladbach and can be slightly proud of the fact that they nicked a point off Leverkusen in what would prove Erik ten Hag’s final match.

Bremen are also the only German top flight side eliminated from Germany’s domestic cup after getting tossed out by Arminia Bielefeld in the opening DFB-Pokal round. That too, proved a totally brutal opening draw that left Bremen stumbling out of the gate.

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