podcast
Werder Bremen goes into the 21st matchday with a new coach. Daniel Thioune is a surprising candidate who has no previous Bundesliga experience. The Bundesliga Update Podcast team discusses whether the history of the signing could be a burden for him and what can be expected from Daniel Thioune at Werder.
Before the 21st matchday, Werder Bremen found what they were looking for in their search for a coach. Daniel Thioune should ensure that Werder distances itself from the bottom of the table again. This is the first stop in the Bundesliga for the 51-year-old coach. He has already coached Hamburger SV and Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 2nd league. With VfL Osnabrück he became third division champion.
Is Daniel Thioune a good fit for Werder?
During his stay in Düsseldorf, Thioune proved that he can fight relegation. He took over Fortuna in relegation position 16 in the second division and did not lose any of his first twelve games. It was only on the last matchday of the 21/22 season that there was a defeat against FC St. Pauli and relegation had long been assured.
“Fortuna Düsseldorf had a squad that was actually put together for the fight for promotion,” says podcast host Jens Walbrodt in the current episode of the Bundesliga Update. “The current Werder Bremen squad can be seen as significantly weaker compared to the Bundesliga.” He therefore considers a comparably impressive series to be much less likely.
Flexibility as an advantage?
“In my opinion, Daniel Thioune is a great fit for Bremen,” says podcast host and sports show presenter Tobi Schäfer. “On the one hand because of his likeable nature, but on the other hand because he prefers a back four, for example, which perhaps suits Werder Bremen better than the back three that Horst Steffen recently played.”
Sports show presenter Tobi Schäfer
Daniel Thioune not only represents a certain style of play but has always adapted to the possibilities of the respective squad in his past positions. As HSV coach, for example, he preferred football with a lot of ball possession (58.7% on average). During his years at Fortuna Düsseldorf, he gradually focused the game more and more on transitional football with significantly less possession of the ball. He also sometimes used intensive pressing, as in the third division years with VfL Osnabrück (2017 – 2019), and sometimes a more wait-and-see style, as was the case recently with Düsseldorf.
Opportunity for Mbangula and Co.?
The topic of developing talent is also one that Daniel Thioune stands for. For example, the proportion of U23 players used in his professional career is higher than the proportion of his predecessor as Werder Bremen coach, Horst Steffen. Nevertheless, he always relied on experience: “Players like Marcel Sobottka and Andre Hoffmann were incredibly important to him at Fortuna Düsseldorf and their experience provided real support,” says podcast host Jens Walbrodt. “The Werder squad accommodates him in some places.”
“But Werder has to become more dangerous in terms of goalscoring,” says Tobi Schäfer. “That’s why maybe wing play will come back into focus again.”
At Fortuna Düsseldorf, Daniel Thioune usually played with a real “nine” – like Rouven Hennings or David Kownacki. But with Christos Tzolis he also turned a winger into a goalscorer and outstanding player in the second division.
The first task for Daniel Thioune is the difficult away game at SC Freiburg. It will show whether the new Werder coach has a direct positive influence on the recently battered Weser team.
Will there still be a championship fight?
The Bundesliga Update team also discusses the entire situation in the Bundesliga. For example, it will be discussed how dangerous TSG Hoffenheim is for FC Bayern this weekend and whether there might still be a real championship fight. And of course there is also a detailed discussion of the other games of the Bundesliga weekend, for example a look at the debut of the new coach of Eintracht Frankfurt, Albert Rieira.
The Bundesliga update – every Thursday and Monday
The Bundesliga update is available in the ARD audio library, wherever podcasts are available and on the Sportschau football channel on YouTube. New episodes appear on Thursday afternoons and Monday mornings.
