Summer thaws Bremen's winless run
Braunschweig - The relief among the players and staff of SV Werder Bremen after the 1-0 win in Braunschweig was palpable. Zlatko Junuzovic’s goal eight minutes from time ended a seven-month drought with Bremen winning for the first time in 13 Bundesliga games.
”Every point is important”
“There was snow on the ground back then,” said the goalscorer to bundesliga.com. True enough, that last win, a 4-1 triumph at VfB Stuttgart, came way back in the middle of winter on 9 February. “It has tested our nerves and I wasn’t even able to enjoy my holidays,” added the 25-year-old, who refused "to get drawn in" by talk of relegation.
The Austrian, born in the former Yugoslavia, was nevertheless keeping his feet on the ground. “We know that we’ve got a tough season ahead, which is why every point is important.” No doubt a perspective instilled amongst the squad by coach Robin Dutt. “Of course winning the first Bundesliga game with my new club delights me, and this result makes my work a lot easier,” said the former SC Freiburg and Bayer 04 Leverkusen head coach.
“But we have a long, hard season ahead of us and we’re going to have to fight for every single point.” The 48-year-old could not say exactly how tough the past six months have been, considering he's only been in charge for a couple of them. “The players would be better judges of how much it hurts not to have won since February,” he said.
"A dirty win"
Sporting director Thomas Eichin was not in office back on that wintry afternoon either. “I don’t care that this was only my first win,” he said. “What matters is that we’ve finally won again.” The importance of the result can be measured by how little the actual performance of Bremen was discussed post-match. For much of the 90 minutes, Bremen were on the back foot against the Bundesliga newcomers.
“It was a dirty win,” admitted the goalscorer. “It’s going to take a few games before we find ourselves as a team, but we’re heading in the right direction.” The win on the road has teed them up nicely for a morale-boosting start to the season, considering their next opponents are FC Augsburg at the Weser Stadion next weekend.
“But we’re not going to be disrespectful,” added the Austrian, who refused to see Augsburg as easy opponents, in spite of their 4-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. Aaron Hunt added: “We’re still lacking a bit, but it will come. Right now, I’m just a little bit happy.”
Jürgen Blöhs reporting from Braunschweig / Ben Gladwell
