2015–16 SV Werder Bremen season

Werder Bremen
2015–16 season
President Klaus-Dieter Fischer
Head coach Viktor Skripnik
Stadium Weserstadion
Bundesliga 16th
Home colours
Away colours
Third colours
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 SV Werder Bremen season is the 106th season in the club's football history. In 2015–16 the club plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of German football league system. It is the clubs 33rd consecutive season in this league, having been promoted from the 2. Bundesliga in 1981.

The club also is taking part in the 2015–16 edition of the DFB-Pokal.

Season overview

August

On 8 August, Werder Bremen started the season by winning against third division side Würzburger Kickers.[1] Werder lost the opening match of Bundesliga to Schalke 04 at home by a margin of 0–3.[2] Werder earned their first point in Bundesliga after 1–1 draw away at Hertha BSC.[3] Bremen earned their first win of the season by beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 2–1 at home with impressive performance from goal scorer Jannik Vestergaard and Aron Jóhannsson[4]

September

After the international break, Werder continued their winning form by beating 1899 Hoffenheim 3–1. The game appeared to be headed to a draw, but a two injury time goals from Anthony Ujah and Zlatko Junuzović in a matter of two minutes sealed the victory for Werder.[5] However, Werder lost their way and winning form by losing to newly promoted team FC Ingolstadt and Darmstadt 98. Werder also saw Philipp Bargfrede and Fin Bartels getting marching orders against Ingolstadt and Darmstadt respectively.[6] Aron Jóhannsson suffered a hip injury during training with no timeline given by Werder's medical staff on his return.[7] Werder lost their third-straight match with a defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.[8][9] Head coach Viktor Skrypnyk conceded that losing three match in a row was a big disappointment for the team.[10]

October

Werder continued their losing trend by losing 1–0 to lowly-placed Hannover 96. This was the fourth consecutive loss for Werder, with unbeaten Bayern Munich looking to pounce on the team when they meet at Weserstadion after international break.[11] Werder gave a fighting performance against league leaders Bayern and came close to securing a point through Anthony Ujah. Bremen, however, could not prevent Bayern from becoming the first-ever team to win nine opening matches[12] Captain Clemens Fritz played his 250th match for Bremen but was not satisfied with the loss against Bayern after a spirited performance. Sporting Director Thomas Eichin, however, was at least pleased with the response of the team after having lost four-straight Bundesliga games.[13] After losing five consecutive matches, The Whites showed strength and character to outclass FSV Mainz 05 courtesy of an Ujah brace.[14] The next match for Bremen was in DFB-Pokal, where they knocked off 1. FC Köln 1–0 to reach the last 16 of the competition.[15] The month of October ended with a home match against second-placed Borussia Dortmund, which ended in 1–3 defeat. Sporting Director Eichin was happy with the spirited performance of Bremen and conceded that goal by Henrikh Mkhitaryan just before the half-time break changed the game in favour of Dortmund.[16]

November

The Whites started the month with a hard fought 2–1 victory away at struggling FC Augsburg.[17] The match will be remembered for Claudio Pizzaro's first goal of his third stint at Werder and his 177th Bundesliga goal, the highest-ever total by foreign player in the Bundesliga.[18] In the next match, however, Werder faced their worst defeat of the season when they were thrashed 6–0 at the hands of VfL Wolfsburg.[19] After the humiliating loss, Werder Bremen next faces their fiercest northern neighbour Hamburger SV for the 103rd time in the Bundesliga. Despite Werder historically tallying more wins (37) over their opponent (32), Hamburg appeared more up-beat about facing Werder after its impressive win over Borussia Dortmund the week prior.[20] Werder lost the match 1–3, increasing the mounting pressure on coach Viktor Skripnik.[21]

December

The month of December was received with positive news that forward Aron Jóhannsson, who has been out of action since October, has started light training sessions. The aim for Jóhannsson is to be in full training before the second half of the season begins after the winter break.[22] On 6 December, Werder traveled to VfB Stuttgart and battled hard in the second half to rescue a point after Lukas Rupp put the hosts in front.[23] Anthony Ujah scored the equaliser; his consistent goal-scoring performances have caught the attention of Stoke City for the upcoming winter transfer window.[24] In Werder's next match, Ujah was again the centre of focus, missing a penalty in the next match against his former club, Köln. Werder were leading when Ujah missed the penalty, whereupon Köln compounded the misery for the Green Whites by leveling with a controversial goal.[25] Werder are now without a win in their last six home games, and are desperate to win in their next match away at Borussia Mönchengladbach in the DFB-Pokal. The desperate Werder battled hard with courage and passion to come from behind to defeat Mönchengladbach 3–4 to earn a quarter-final spot in the DFB-Pokal.[26] It was the night to remember for the Green-Whites, especially the young stars of Werder, such as Levin Öztunalı, Florian Grillitsch and Janek Sternberg, the latter who scored his first goal for Bremen.[27] The DFB-Pokal win set up a quarter-final match away at Bayer Leverkusen, which will be played in the second week of February. Werder is set to face fellow Bundesliga strugglers Eintracht Frankfurt for the last game before the winter break commences. Head coach Viktor Skripnik is placing special importance to the match, terming it as "mini final" with players determined to give everything against Frankfurt.[28] Werder ended 2015 with a loss against Frankfurt, thus ending the first half of the Bundesliga season in the relegation zone.[29]

January 2016

The start of new year saw Werder Bremen sign 21-year-old Hungarian midfielder László Kleinheisler and Senegalese centre back Papy Djilobodji on loan from Chelsea until the end of the season.[30][31] Meanwhile, long-serving Felix Kroos and Levent Ayçiçek has been loaned out to 1. FC Union Berlin and 1860 München respectively until the summer of 2016.[32][33] The new year began with an impressive win for the Green Whites at Schalke 04, with captain Clemens Fritz leading from the front by scoring an equalizing goal and providing beautiful crosses for the next two goals.[34] Unfortunately, Philipp Bargfrede suffered a meniscus tear in the game and will miss the remainder of the season.[35] In the first home game of 2016, Werder played out a hard-earned draw against Hertha BSC. Despite going 2–0 down and later 3–1 down in the match, Werder fought valiantly to earn a 3–3 draw, with stunning goal by Fin Bartels and a superb header by Santiago García.[36] Before the January transfer window closed, Bremen secured the services of midfielder Sambou Yatabaré from Olympiacos and centre back Miloš Veljković from Tottenham Hotspur.[37][38]

February 2016

Bremen's next match was against Borussia Mönchengladbach, who were looking to end their losing streak. Bremen lost 5–1, dropping them to the relegation play-off position in the league table, whilst Gladbach finished the matchday in sixth, pushing for a Champions League spot.[39] It was disappointing team performance by the Green Whites, despite striker Claudio Pizarro scoring a goal in his 400th game. Thomas Eichin was critical of the effort put by the players and expects 100 percent from the players to compete at Bundesliga games.[40] After the demoralising loss, Bremen returns to cup competition to face Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals of DFB Pokal.

Competitions

      Win       Draw       Lose

Bundesliga

Main article: 2015–16 Bundesliga

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
14 FC Augsburg 20 5 6 9 22 28 −6 21
15 Eintracht Frankfurt 20 5 6 9 26 34 −8 21
16 Werder Bremen 21 5 5 11 25 42 −17 20 Qualification to the Relegation play-offs
17 1899 Hoffenheim 21 2 9 10 19 31 −12 15 Relegation to 2. Bundesliga
18 Hannover 96 21 4 2 15 19 36 −17 14
Updated to match(es) played on 13 February 2016. Source: kicker.de, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Away goals scored; 8) Play-offs.[41]

Results summary

OverallHomeAway
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsWDLGFGAGDWDLGFGAGD
21 5 5 11 25 42 −17 20 1 3 6 9 20 −11 4 2 5 16 22 −6

Last updated: 13 February 2016.
Source: Competitive matches

Results by round

Round12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334
GroundHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAH             
Result L D W W L L L L L W L W L L D D L W D L D                          
Position 16 15 11 6 9 12 13 14 16 14 16 14 14 15 15 14 16 16 16 16 16                          

Last updated: 13 February 2016.
Source: http://www.bundesliga.com/en/stats/matchday/
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Matches

DFB-Pokal

Main article: 2015–16 DFB-Pokal

Squad and statistics

Sources:[42] As of 23 January 2016

No. Pos Nat Player TotalBundesliga DFB Pokal
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1 GK Germany Felix Wiedwald 20 0 17 0 3 0
2 FW Niger Anthony Ujah 20 10 17 7 3 3
3 DF Denmark Jannik Vestergaard 19 3 16 2 3 1
4 DF Czech Republic Theodor Gebre Selassie 19 0 16 0 3 0
5 MF Germany Fin Bartels 18 3 16 2 2 1
6 MF Germany Clemens Fritz 17 0 15 0 2 0
7 MF Austria Zlatko Junuzović 16 2 14 2 2 0
8 MF Germany Philipp Bargfrede 16 0 13 0 3 0
9 FW Peru Claudio Pizarro 16 3 14 2 2 1
11 DF Spain Álex Gálvez 15 0 13 0 2 0
14 DF Democratic Republic of the Congo Assani Lukimya 15 0 12 0 3 0
15 DF Argentina Santiago García 14 0 13 0 1 0
16 MF Germany Levin Öztunali 12 0 10 0 2 0
17 MF Austria Florian Grillitsch 12 0 9 0 3 0
18 DF Switzerland Ulisses Garcia 11 0 9 0 2 0
19 DF Germany Janek Sternberg 8 1 5 0 3 1
20 FW United States Aron Jóhannsson 6 2 6 2 0 0
21 MF Germany Maximilian Eggestein 5 0 4 0 1 0
22 FW Germany Melvyn Lorenzen 4 0 4 0 0 0
23 MF Germany Lukas Fröde 3 0 2 0 1 0
25 DF Germany Luca-Milan Zander 2 0 2 0 0 0
26 MF Germany Marcel Hilßner 1 0 1 0 0 0
27 MF Germany Özkan Yildirim 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 MF Germany Felix Kroos 9 0 8 0 1 0
30 MF Germany Julian von Haacke 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 GK Germany Raphael Wolf 0 0 0 0 0 0
35 GK Germany Michael Zetterer 0 0 0 0 0 0
37 DF Senegal Papy Djilobodji 0 0 0 0 0 0
38 DF Croatia Mateo Pavlović 0 0 0 0 0 0
39 DF Germany Oliver Hüsing 0 0 0 0 0 0
42 DF Germany Marnon Busch 0 0 0 0 0 0
44 MF Netherlands László Kleinheisler 0 0 0 0 0 0

References

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