Werder deals with crisis

The opening phrase of "the Green Whites welcomes 'Gladbach to Weserstadion" on Saturday is not appropriate as Thomas Schaaf tenure is on life support. Staring at the worst season since 2003, Werder's ongoing crisis situation can only be turned around with a victory.

With the start to the Rückrunde dragged down by successive losses to Arminia Bielefeld and Schalke 04 in which they only scored once, Werder is in desperate need of three points but coming into town is a rejuvenated if not bloody thirsty band in the form of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

The bottom dwellers of the table, after playing like a mid-level club in the second division in the Hinrude are all of sudden playing with toughness and giving absolutely no ground. Only a missed offside call with a few minutes left ripped a victory away from them against 1899 and somehow there coach, Hans Meyer, has them ready to compete for points. While Kicker stirred up the pot during the week of a players revolt, it seemed to be about four weeks too late and if there is one club that is oddly dangerous, it is Gladbach. With nothing to lose and everything to win, they have captured the siege mentality and won't let a ball go unchallenged.

On the compete opposite side of the spectrum is Werder that has shown little fire and seems just fine merrily skipping along to a mid-place finish. Poor play in the Champions League beget bad play in the Bundesliga and all the coaching in the world cannot answer why they are showing such little "heart." Their best played match of recent steps back into December when they defeated VfL Wolfsburg but in the match their midfield / striking group was made up of Mesut Özil,Aaron Hunt,Jurica Vranješ,Said Husejinović and Markus Rosenberg. That in it self is the most telling statement because they played with heart, something that has been missing since.

For the match Thomas Schaaf is without Diego and Aaron Hunt in addition to Per Mertesacker and Daniel Jensen. Claudio Pizarro returns with the manager adding:

"We know about Claudio's qualities. We really missed him in the last couple games. We all realise how important he is for us. We hope that he can play to his full potential against Gladbach. But the team will have to create opportunities for him and force the opponents into mistakes with which he can take advantage of his quality,"