Werder Bremen before the basement duel against Heidenheim: Thioune doesn’t want to talk about the “final”.

8 failures at Werder

Now or never: For Werder Bremen on the 24th matchday of the Bundesliga there is a lot at stake, almost everything. The penultimate team is doomed to win against bottom-placed 1. FC Heidenheim on Saturday (3:30 p.m./Sky) in their own Weserstadion. But there haven’t been three points in the last 13 games, making the Green-Whites one of the weakest teams in the top 5 leagues.

“I’m a little far away from talking about a final,” said Werder coach Daniel Thioune. The 51-year-old tried to spread confidence. “In a completely normal world, as I often emphasize, I would say that SV Werder Bremen should be able to beat 1. FC Heidenheim on a Saturday afternoon.”

But the coaching change effect has so far fizzled out. Thioune took over from Horst Steffen after matchday 20, and there have been three defeats since then. Most recently with FC St. Pauli against a direct competitor in the fight against relegation. The result: the fall into a direct relegation zone, one point behind FCSP (20 points) in the relegation zone and VfL Wolfsburg in 15th place. Only Heidenheim is in an even worse position and is five points behind Werder (in the table).

Thioune threatens a negative record with Werder Bremen – long list of failures

Thioune has to fear a negative club record against FCH. If his team loses this time too, he would be the first head coach in Werder history with four defeats in the first four games. Nevertheless, those responsible have tried to support Thioune in the past few days. “There is no coaching discussion with us at all,” said managing director Clemens Fritz to the “Deichstube”.

“He acts very energetically, conveys his content precisely and works with the boys in a very solution-oriented manner. The team accepts his instructions well and works on implementing them,” said the 45-year-old, describing the ex-Düsseldorfer’s work. But Fritz also knows: “Of course the situation is not easy right now.”

What makes matters worse is that Bremen are dealing with a long list of injuries. In addition to the long-term absences Victor Boniface (knee surgery) and Mitchell Weiser (torn cruciate ligament), Amos Pieper (knee), Wesley Adeh (torn ligament) and Maximilian Wöber (calf problems), Karim Coulibaly (thigh), Felix Agu (adductor) and now Samuel Mbangula (thigh) are also not there. Together they have a market value of 65.75 million euros – to put it into perspective: Werder’s entire squad is valued at 191 million euros.

Pressure also at 1. FC Heidenheim

The Heidenheimers, who have been without success for ten games, are also feeling the pressure. If the FCH still has a chance of making up for the six points on the remaining positions in the table on the remaining eleven match days, “then at some point you have to start reducing the deficit,” emphasized coach Frank Schmidt. “It’s clear that we should win the game against Bremen.” Then you can continue to firmly believe that “you still have a chance.”

Schmidt also has to replace important players. Defender Marnon Busch and goalkeeper Diant Ramaj will be missing, both of whom are ill. Frank Feller will stand between the posts for Ramaj. Regardless of the line-up, his team had to “make the right decisions at the right moment” against Werder, explained Schmidt. “It will be a special head game.”