Our next opponents: Junuzovic and the home final

Position

In the eyes of midfielder Jerome Gondorf he was "like a wall," and for opponent Marco Reus "clearly world class." After last Sunday's 1-1 draw for Werder Bremen against Borussia Dortmund hardly anybody escaped talking about Jiri Pavlenka. With several brilliant saves and one of the best goalkeeping performances of the whole Bundesliga season, the Czech Republic keeper secured a draw for his side in the game against the aspiring Champions League side in black and yellow. And that, although Werder have little to play for at this stage of the campaign unlike BVB. The defeat for VfL Wolfsburg the day before secured Werder Bremen's top-flight status ahead of the kick-off. A notable achievement by coach Florian Kohfeldt, who arrived in the autumn, as Bremen were on 14 points and 17th in the table when they played at the BayArena in the middle of December. The 1-0 reverse was the first of two defeats to Werder this season: In the DFB Cup, the Green and Whites beat the Werkself 4-2 after extra time in the quarter-finals.

personnel

As the Kohfeldt team impressively demonstrated against Dortmund, they are unwilling to give anything away in the remaining matches – although the game against Bayer 04 is special for one extraordinary Werder player. Captain Zlatko Junuzovic (pictured above), as announced last week, will leave Bremen at the end of the season after six and a half years as a top performer, leader and fan favourite. The game against the Werkself is the final home game at the Weser Stadium for the Austrian.  Junuzovic will say where he's going after the game. At this moment, it is clear the midfielder wants to say farewell to the fans with a win and the team will give their complete support to their captain. Kohfeldt can afford to be in optimistic mood ahead of the encounter with Bayer 04 in terms of personnel: Defender Niklas Moisander is available again after a muscle injury, midfield enforcer Philipp Bargfrede and winger Florian Kainz return to the squad after serving one-match bans. The only regular first choice missing is the forward Fin Bartels, who suffered a torn Achilles at the home game against Dortmund in December and is ruled out for the rest of the season.

problems

After an outstanding run at the second half of the season with six wins from eight games, Bremen have faltered recently with no wins in the last four fixtures. That is down to a drought up front. Max Kruse, definitely one of the exceptional players in the Werder attack, has not scored in over six weeks  – also because he is too often called upon to not just be the central striker but also a playmaker where he has less chance of finishing. He is surrounded by talented players like Florian Kainz and winter signing Milot Rashica but the latter has provided little threat in front of goal as yet. Significantly, only one of the last five Werder goals have been scored by a forward – and that was almost a month ago: Ishak Belfodil on 6 April at Hannover 96.

potential

On Monday it was officially announced what all football fans in Germany believe goes together: Thomas Schaaf is back at Werder Bremen. The club legend, who managed the Green and Whites from 1999 to 2013, winning the double in 2004 with a total of 41 years at Bremen, was introduced as technical director where he will, in future, work together with his former captain and current Werder general manager Frank Baumann. According to the press release, Schaaf will play a key role in the link between the professional and youth sections at the club. That area is important in the current situation. Werder do not have unlimited resources and rely to some extent on good youth development. Kohfeldt, formerly coach of the U23s and various youth teams at Werder, knows all about working with and developing youth players. The conditions are there for developing homegrown key players over the next few years. Bremen have not achieved that very often in the past. Perhaps Schaaf will bring back the necessary drive – and, under certain circumstances, the success from his time as Werder coach.

prediction

The Green and Whites only have dead rubbers to play in the remainder of the season. It will be interesting to see how the introduction of Schaaf to the restructured management will work out in the summer. In Junuzovic,  an absolute key player in the team is leaving and there are no new signings for the next campaign with the exception of the return of a number of loan players. Should they trust Kohfeldt and his young players like Maximilian Eggestein or will Baumann again enter the transfer market to sign a big name to replace the Austrian? One thing is certain: With Schaaf and Kohfeldt in tandem, Werder have every chance of working their way back towards the top after the disappointments of recent years. it is equally clear: It will very probably take a long time for that process to pay dividends.