Royal blue dress rehearsal: How Werder wants to get a good feeling in the last test against Schalke

Created: 01/13/2023, 7:30 p.m

By: Marius Winkelmann

FC Schalke 04, here with Simon Terodde (left), and SV Werder Bremen, here with Marco Friedl (right), only met in the Bundesliga at the beginning of November - on Saturday both clubs will play against each other in a friendly.

© Imago Images/Claus Bergmann

SV Werder Bremen take on FC Schalke 04 in a friendly on Saturday 14 January.

The dress rehearsal before the Bundesliga restart will kick off at 3:30 p.m. in the Veltins Arena.

The preliminary report of the DeichStube.

Bremen – They only met at the beginning of November, when the team coached by

beat the miners 2-1 at the Wohninvest Weserstadion.

Now, two months later,

and

meet again to prepare for their next compulsory tasks

in a

On Friday, Bremen will travel to Gelsenkirchen, where they will have their dress rehearsal in the Veltins Arena on Saturday from 3:30 p.m. before the Bundesliga restart at 1. FC Köln (January 21, 6:30 p.m. in the DeichStube live ticker).

Werder's officials can clearly feel the anticipation before the Schalke test, despite some personal concerns.

Werder Bremen's coach Ole Werner on the friendly against Schalke 04: "For us, it's a determination of where we stand"

"The framework is that of a Bundesliga game - that was important to us for the last

.

A week before the start it is a position determination for us," says

coach

, who should field his best possible starting XI

against

Nevertheless, we will make sure that one or the other is on the pitch a little more.”

That definitely doesn't apply to Oliver Burke.

The Scottish striker will

definitely miss the dress rehearsal at

An MRI scan revealed that the 25-year-old suffered a slight thigh strain.

After all, Burke should be available again for the first competitive game of the year in Cologne.

"We assume that he will start training again in the coming week," explains

's head of professional football

.

On the other hand, Romano Schmid (torn ligament) and Felix Agu (patellar tendon injury) will be out longer.

The duo is not expected back until early February at the earliest.

Werder Bremen's Oliver Burke will miss the friendly against Schalke 04 with a slight thigh strain

now wants to show itself from its best side

after the rather mixed

impressions against the Spanish third division club Real Murcia (2: 0) and the Swiss first division club FC St. Gallen (2: 2). to be able to start the rest of the season with self-confidence.

"It's important for the coach and the team to get a good feeling about their own game and their own fitness," says ex-professional

- and adds: "Of course it would be good if we went into the game with a sense of achievement

first game against Cologne." That's why the test at

is "of incredible importance".

And maybe it wasn't the worst idea from Bremen's point of view to look at FC Schalke as an opponent for the final touches.

The most recent record of the green-whites against the royal blues is absolutely impressive: in the last ten matches

have only lost once.

Also in the Veltins-Arena, the Bremen team felt very comfortable.

They have all won

the last six competitive games at

Most recently, in April 2022, there was a much-celebrated 4-1 away win, back then in league two.

Werder Bremen's Clemens Fritz: Test match at FC Schalke 04 is "of incredible importance"

A lot has happened with both promoted teams since then: while

collected a strong 21 points after 15 match days and is now ninth in the Bundesliga table, opponents

didn't do much together in sporting terms.

Before the start of the rest of the round, the Knappen already have their backs to the wall with only nine points on their account, wintering as bottom of the table - five points behind the saving bank.

After all, since coach Thomas Reis took over the team in October, a fresh wind has been blowing through Gelsenkirchen, although the new vigor has not yet been reflected in the results.

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According to Reis, this is not the only reason why Schalke are particularly challenged in the dress rehearsal against

: “Everything is at stake for us in the next 19 games.

We will always have to fight against resistance.

That's why it's important to always overcome your weaker self – even if it hurts.” In the

against Bremen, Reis therefore wants to field a starting line-up “that could also start in Frankfurt a week later,” reveals the

coach .

This could possibly also include winter newcomers Niklas Tauer (Mainz 05) and Jere Uronen (Stade Brest), who have joined the miners on loan.

By the way, if you can't follow

the

and

are showing the duel live on their respective YouTube channels.

In addition, the

for the game as usual

.

(mwi)