Werder Bremen head coach Daniel Thioune spent much of last week discussing resilience. After watching his side overturn a two-goal deficit to defeat FC Augsburg 3-2 on Saturday , the 52-year-old felt entitled to expand the discussion. Werder trailed 1-0 at halftime and fell 2-0 behind when Calvin Brackelmann headed home in the 58th minute.
Marco Grüll pulled one back eight minutes later before Niclas Füllkrug equalized in the 86th. Mitchell Weiser then supplied an extraordinary conclusion, curling Grüll's cutback into the top corner in stoppage time to complete the comeback. The result moved Bremen onto seven points through four Bundesliga matches.
"We talked about resilience last week," Thioune noted in his opening remarks at the post-match press conference. "Today, I can stand before you and tell you that my team really knows how to play good football. For me, the third goal was the most beautiful. My colleague might not have liked it so much. [My liking of it] has everything to do with the fact that Mitchell Weiser slung it in."
The identity of the winning goalscorer lent an already remarkable comeback another emotional layer. The theme itself was a familiar one. Only two weeks earlier, Werder had revelled in some conspicuous "footballing romance" during their 3-1 upset of RB Leipzig . On that occasion, returning Bremen sons Eren Dinkçi and Füllkrug both scored at the Weserstadion as Thioune's extensively reconstructed squad supplied its first evidence that a difficult summer might yet produce something special.
Saturday furnished a sequel.
This time, Weiser occupied center stage. The veteran had only recently returned from a lengthy injury layoff and was making his first home appearance at the Weserstadion since his comeback. Weiser entered for Dinkçi in the 67th minute, immediately forced Augsburg keeper Finn Dahmen into a save and eventually provided the decisive moment.
"Welcome to the Weserstadion, football romantics!" Thioune noted at the press conference. "That was just crazy. It stirred in us an unfathomable amount of emotion. A compliment to Mitchell. Even at 2-2, he didn't want to play for 2-2. He told the team, 'Come on, let's get another one in.' As I've always said, give us a little time and patience."
The footballing romanticism surrounding Bremen thus continues to draw heavily from familiar faces. Dinkçi and Füllkrug supplied it against Leipzig. Weiser, after an exceptionally long road back to competitive football, provided perhaps an even more dramatic version against Augsburg.
Patience has constituted a recurring theme in Bremen this season. Werder endured a difficult preseason before suffering a heavy defeat at Freiburg on Matchday 1. Since then, Thioune's side have beaten RB Leipzig and Augsburg at home while also earning a point away at Cologne.
"After the difficult preseason and the rough start in Freiburg, my team deserves huge compliments today," Thioune concluded in his opening statement. "They deserve it for what they showed at 0-0, 0-1 and 0-2. We can naturally talk about some of the things that didn't go well today, but we're very happy that we were able to claw our way back."
Thioune's admiration for Weiser extended well beyond the winning goal. The Werder coach explained that his first months working with the 32-year-old largely involved learning about Weiser as a person rather than as an active player. What impressed Thioune throughout the rehabilitation process was the veteran's refusal to accept defeat even in relatively insignificant settings.
"I've had the privilege of getting to know Mitchell over the past few months, but not as a footballer," Thioune said when asked to comment on Weiser specifically. "He's a player with a strong mentality. I don't know if that has a lot to do with his past and where he's been. Yesterday [in training], his team was trailing 0-1 and he never stopped hustling."
"He sent Salim [ Musah ] into the box and told him, 'We don't want to lose this training match,'" Thioune continued. "Even if there's only three minutes left, we don't want to lose. And I already mentioned this. I see that during every minute that he's on the pitch. I'm simply happy for him. I know personally how hard it is to come back after such a long layoff. I've experienced that situation myself."
"It's just an indescribable moment for him," Thioune concluded. "To score the winning goal and to perform so brilliantly here at the Weserstadion after 16 months. I think he deserved to be hugged a little closer and tighter."
Weiser's mentality also fitted neatly into Thioune's broader assessment of his squad. Werder dominated possession against Augsburg, finished with 20 shots to seven and produced increasingly sustained pressure as the second half progressed. Augsburg still had opportunities to finish Bremen off on the counter, something Thioune readily acknowledged.
"Morale and resilience aren't necessarily things one can train," Thioune said of his team's surprise start to the Bundesliga campaign. "The fact that we were able to come back and demonstrate footballing quality was important. We were somewhat lucky that the opponents didn't finish off their counterattacking chances cleanly, but we then went straight for the counterattacking chances ourselves."
"The team is energetic and courageous," Thioune continued. "But we're only on the fourth matchday. Hence, the things that weren't good on the first matchday aren't necessarily all that much different for us on the fourth. We'll have to be careful with the praise, but, for the moment, we should just give the team a big compliment."
There has nevertheless been one significant change: continuity. Thioune named the same starting XI for a third consecutive Bundesliga match against Augsburg, something that had rarely been possible during his earlier work with the squad.
"It really helped to send the exact same XI onto the pitch for the third match in a row," Thioune said. "What wasn't possible for me in the last six months has become possible in the last three weeks. Today, I didn't have to make substitutions for conditioning reasons. That was the case in the last two weeks. You can see how well this team can develop. A fighting attitude is non-negotiable and this team has it."
Thioune nevertheless resisted an attempt to turn Bremen's successful early run into criticism of the players he coached last season. When asked whether he preferred the current incarnation of the squad, the Werder trainer specifically defended several departed midfielders and stressed that resilience had not suddenly arrived with the summer rebuild.
"No, I would disagree with that," Thioune said when a reporter attempted to draw a comparison with last year's squad. "The players in midfield who helped us remain in the league last year — Romano Schmid , Jens Stage , Senne Lynen and Cameron Puertas — were also resilient. The procedures simply weren't in place then. We didn't have the muscle memory, at least not during the time I was there."
For Thioune, the distinction concerns processes, familiarity and personnel development rather than effort.
"As I said before, a fighting attitude on the pitch is non-negotiable," Thioune continued. "That the lads are bringing that doesn't surprise me. Youri Regeer directs our game. And the others are gradually getting into a flow as well. Whether it's Ludovit Reis or Chuki, who came from the second division. The attitude hasn't changed. The players certainly have. We'll see what comes of it. The lads will experience further setbacks."
"Also, when it comes to Weiser, I'm curious to see how well and how long it will last," Thioune concluded. "And I'll also be happy when the other [injured] lads come back as well. So give me a little more time to evaluate things. But they're already all on track and they're all good guys insofar as mentality is concerned."
Thioune's caution becomes particularly interesting when measured against his own expectations for the opening four matches. Werder now have seven points. The coach revealed afterwards that five would have represented an acceptable return, while four would already have placed Bremen slightly behind the pace he considers necessary.
"If we were on five points [through four matchdays], I would have said we were on track," Thioune said in his Sky Germanyinterview. "Four points, I would have classified as underperforming, as one point per game wouldn't be sufficient to play in the Bundesliga next season. Everything over [five points] means we're performing."
"What we've accomplished since [the opening-day 4-1 defeat against] Freiburg has been really cool," Thioune continued. "It's been more than a successful start to the season when one takes the first matchday out of the equation."
The coach nevertheless closed his press conference by returning to the same restraint he had preached throughout.
"We need to be cautious," Thioune emphasized. "After the international break, we head to Dortmund to try and pluck some higher-hanging fruit. Development takes not days, but weeks and months. That's why I'm glad we have a little break now."
For the players, caution could wait at least until the immediate emotion of the comeback subsided. Grüll earned Man of the Match honors after scoring Bremen's first goal and setting up both Füllkrug and Weiser. His assessment of the comeback was considerably shorter than his coach's.
"It just shows how much morale the team has," Grüll remarked upon receiving Man of the Match honors in his Sky Germanyinterview.
For Weiser, the afternoon carried deeper significance.
"Last year, we didn't have many 'magic moments'," Weiser told Sky Germany. "Ones that we experienced more frequently today. I'm incredibly happy that I got a chance to be a part of this one here today."
