Horst Steffen only took over as coach at Bremen before this season. But after ten games without a win in a row, Werder is now pulling the ripcord.
Sports director Clemens Fritz no longer gave Steffen a job guarantee after the 1-1 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The club released the coach on Sunday morning.
“It was a difficult decision, but we no longer have the conviction that Horst will be able to achieve the turnaround together with the team after this long series without a win,” said Fritz, explaining the separation. “This realization is of course heavy, especially because we value Horst very much, but it is the result of the analysis of the sporting situation and the discussions we recently had.”
Steffen only scored 19 points in 20 games
For the time being, the current assistant coaches Raphael Duarte and Christian Groß will take over the team. According to Fritz, Werder is “intensively looking for a new head coach”. For this search, the club would like to “take the time necessary to find the best solution for Werder.”
Steffen came to Bremen last summer from SV Elversberg in the second division. However, with Werder he only scored 19 points in 20 games. In addition, the DFB Cup ended in the first round against second division team Arminia Bielefeld.
Werder’s fans criticize the work of Fritz and Niemeyer
But Steffen is not solely responsible for the sporting crisis. Fritz and the sporting director Peter Niemeyer are even more criticized by the fans than the hapless coach. In addition to the bad luck with injuries, squad planning in Bremen is the big problem this season. Numerous new additions came late and were only loaned out. So far, only the Japanese Yukinari Sugawara has proven to be a reinforcement.
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