“Don’t look so glum”: Füllkrug tries to stay confident after Werder’s poor start

Niclas Füllkrug is trying to keep Werder Bremen’s mood from sinking after a 4-1 defeat at Freiburg opened the club’s Bundesliga season.

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I don’t see it as negative at all, I’m not so glum.

“I don’t see it as negative at all, I’m not so glum,” Füllkrug said after the heavy loss. The striker, who returned to Bremen on loan from West Ham United this summer, was substituted after an hour and had little influence on the match.

He said the team now needed to develop its patterns of play quickly before hosting RB Leipzig on Saturday. “It will be a challenging year, but that can also be fun,” he said.

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It will be a challenging year, but that can also be fun.

Coach Daniel Thioune said the 33-year-old was in good physical condition, but could not yet maintain the required intensity because he lacked enough playing time in recent months. Integrating Füllkrug more effectively will be one of the tasks facing the striker’s teammates and the coaching staff.

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For the moment, perhaps we are allowed to cry a little too.

Werder’s problems were compounded by the injury to Jens Stage. The Danish midfielder could miss the rest of the year with a thigh injury suffered in training. Füllkrug called the absence “a kind of worst-case scenario,” while Thioune said the news had affected everyone deeply. Werder’s recent play had been “very, very Jens-heavy” and built around Stage, the coach said. Sporting director Clemens Fritz said the club was already in good talks about strengthening the midfield before the transfer window closes Tuesday evening.

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very, very Jens-heavy