Finishing in mid-table is not normally in Bremen’s script. This certainly wasn’t a season to remember for Werder by their normal standards, even although it was a slight improvement on the previous season. Defensive weaknesses are still their main problem and goalkeeper Tim Wiese had to do more than his fair share to prevent Bremen leaking even more goals over the season. The goalie is being transferred to Hoffenheim which won’t help the northern German’s defensive stability in the short term. Werder still haven’t managed to compensate for the departure of Per Mertesacker to Arsenal. The future of top scorer Claudio Pizarro is also uncertain. The Peruvian striker is undecided whether to stay with Bremen or move on. With dribbling specialist Marko Marin moving to Chelsea, things don’t look too rosy for Bremen in the near future. Schaaf still has useful players which were established at Bremen such as Hunt, Rosenberg and Naldo, but he will need to go to market or it can only be downhill.
