Manager bites the bullet despite sublime late equaliser against Gladbach and next appointment will be telling
Every little detail of it suggested it would almost immediately find its way into the annals of legend. It started as a last-ditch attempt from a set piece, in the fourth of five minutes of stoppage time, with the clock ticking towards the climax at seemingly twice its normal pace and the goalkeeper Mio Backhaus wandering up for the corner in desperation rather than genuine hope of his Anatoliy Trubin moment.
It was pinball; Marco Grüll’s delivery was headed out, nodded back towards goal by Isaac Schmidt and heading out for a goal-kick, only for Senne Lynen to stretch and just about keep it in, slicing it up in the air, before it fell to Keke Topp. It felt as if the 21-year-old’s sublime finish had been cut and pasted from a different sequence entirely, a sumptuous left-foot volley on the swivel that arrowed past Borussia Mönchengladbach’s goalkeeper, Moritz Nicolas, hitting the net and lifting the roof off. Werder Bremen’s equaliser felt like a near-miracle. On a day and in a minute that looked like it would inevitably be their coach’s last, they had finally, improbably coaxed the sound of the ship horn and The Proclaimers’ “500 Miles” from the Weserstadion’s speakers with a goal to snatch a point at the last.
It still wasn’t enough for Horst Steffen. At 9.45am on Sunday morning the sporting directorm, Clemens Fritz, a veteran of considerably more successful Werder teams as a player, entered the Weser dressing room to tell the players that Steffen’s reign was over. Firing a coach with hours rather than days to go before transfer deadline is far from ideal, although in Werder’s case there is hardly a bottomless bucket of euros to fund an impromptu squad makeover. But even with Saturday’s timing, even with Topp’s heroics, Bremen’s board felt forced to act.
Continue reading…Manager bites the bullet despite sublime late equaliser against Gladbach and next appointment will be tellingEvery little detail of it suggested it would almost immediately find its way into the annals of legend. It started as a last-ditch attempt from a set piece, in the fourth of five minutes of stoppage time, with the clock ticking towards the climax at seemingly twice its normal pace and the goalkeeper Mio Backhaus wandering up for the corner in desperation rather than genuine hope of his Anatoliy Trubin moment.
It was pinball; Marco Grüll’s delivery was headed out, nodded back towards goal by Isaac Schmidt and heading out for a goal-kick, only for Senne Lynen to stretch and just about keep it in, slicing it up in the air, before it fell to Keke Topp. It felt as if the 21-year-old’s sublime finish had been cut and pasted from a different sequence entirely, a sumptuous left-foot volley on the swivel that arrowed past Borussia Mönchengladbach’s goalkeeper, Moritz Nicolas, hitting the net and lifting the roof off. Werder Bremen’s equaliser felt like a near-miracle. On a day and in a minute that looked like it would inevitably be their coach’s last, they had finally, improbably coaxed the sound of the ship horn and The Proclaimers’ “500 Miles” from the Weserstadion’s speakers with a goal to snatch a point at the last.It still wasn’t enough for Horst Steffen. At 9.45am on Sunday morning the sporting directorm, Clemens Fritz, a veteran of considerably more successful Werder teams as a player, entered the Weser dressing room to tell the players that Steffen’s reign was over. Firing a coach with hours rather than days to go before transfer deadline is far from ideal, although in Werder’s case there is hardly a bottomless bucket of euros to fund an impromptu squad makeover. But even with Saturday’s timing, even with Topp’s heroics, Bremen’s board felt forced to act. Continue reading…
