2023 has come to an end and the Bundesliga enters its traditional Winterpause, which gives us here at Bundesliga Fanatic the ideal opportunity to take a closer look at each of the eighteen clubs and rate their performance in the first half of the season. Next we run the rule over Werder Bremen.
The story so far
Werder finished last season in 13th following their promotion back to the Bundesliga and that is exactly where they find themselves going into the winter break with a six-point cushion over the bottom three clubs. With only two points picked up away from home (the worst record in the league), they have had to rely on their form at the Weser Stadion to keep themselves out of real trouble.
Starting the season against Bayern Munich meant Bremen were always on a hiding to nothing and the duly lost 4-0 but to their credit they did hold the Rekordmeister at bay until the final quarter of the game. A 96th minute winner then denied them at Freiburg as Maximilian Philipp (on loan at Werder last season) fired the Breisgauer to a late 1-0 win at the Europa Park.
Their next two home games saw them bag maximum points with wins over Mainz and Köln, but two defeats on the road to promoted sides Heidenheim and Darmstadt dented their recovery somewhat. Further losses to Dortmund and Hoffenheim saw them just two points above the relegation zone. The 3-2 home loss to TSG came after Jens Stage had equalised in the 91st minute. Late drama saw Marius Bülter score the winner a minute later.
A third win of the season arrived at home to Union Berlin before consecutive 2-2 draws against both Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt. They came away with nothing with their clashes with high-flyers Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart before notching up their fourth victory of the Hinrunde at home to Augsburg. The final two games both brought respectable draws with Mönchengladbach and RB Leipzig to maintain a slight cushion over the drop zone.
The Grün-Weißen’s away record has been hugely disappointing with a league low of just two points picked up from their travels away from the Weser. The departure of striker Niklas Füllkrug has obviously been felt, but Marvin Ducksch has stepped up to take on the scoring mantle. In terms of progress, there hasn’t been too much from Werder, but their main priority will be keeping out of trouble.
Tale of the tape
Record: 4-4-8, 16 points (1 per game), 13th in Bundesliga
Home Record: 14 points (4-2-3) Away Record: 2 points (0-2-5)
Goals: 23 (1.44 per game), Goals Against: 30 (1.88 per game), Diff: -7
xG: 21.3, xGA: 28.6
Highlight
The 4-0 win over Mainz on matchday 3 was their best result with the Nullfünfer dispatched 4-0. Werder’s home form would put them 9th in the table which shows that they can still rely on the Weser Stadions support to help them to points.
Lowlight
The first round exit from the DFB Pokal at Viktoria Köln was a low point right from the off and the club’s away form as mentioned has been rubbish. Losing to both the promoted sides in two consecutive away trips was particularly disappointing and the number of late goals conceded could prove very costly at the end of the season. Matches that should have seen Werder take points, have seen them leave empty handed.
Stand-out performer
The sale of Niklas Füllkrug to Borussia Dortmund broke up their established front two, but Marvin Ducksch has taken on the mantle as Werder’s main goal threat with seven goals in the Hinrunde so far. His former partner has five for BVB so he’s leading the way this season. Like Füllkrug before him, this top form could however backfire on Werder with other clubs sniffing around and with a reasonable release clause in his contract, the Grün-Weißen may have a fight on their hands to keep hold of their main man. His form has also seen him earn a call-up to the German national team and he will have his sights set on making the squad for the Euros in the summer.
Grade: D
Werder won’t be happy with their overall performance in the first half of the season and will be particularly concerned with their away form. The fact they do have a six-point cushion will be slightly reassuring, but that can soon disappear. They will be looking for a much better Rückrunde if they are to avoid getting too involved in the relegation battle.
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