Werder Bremen departed Freiburg last Sunday following a 4-1 defeat, with the loss itself being only one component of several difficult days for head coach Daniel Thioune’s side. Leading goalscorer Jens Stage had suffered a serious thigh injury immediately before the Bundesliga opener. Justin Njinmah joined him on the long-term injury list during the match itself.
A squad already reconstructed extensively during the summer suddenly required still more emergency work before the transfer deadline. Six days later, a Bremen starting XI containing seven players who had either recently arrived or only recently returned to the team defeated RB Leipzig 3-1 at the Weserstadion.
Two returning players supplied the first two goals. Eren Dinkçi opened the scoring after only four minutes. Niclas Füllkrug added the second after the break. Marco Grüll completed an excellent individual performance by making it 3-0 before Ridle Baku’s stoppage-time consolation.
The result did not suddenly answer every question surrounding Bremen’s extraordinary summer rebuild.
For Thioune, that was precisely the point.
Bremen’s transfer window leaves Thioune with an entirely new team
Werder’s summer squad overhaul had already been substantial before the injuries to Stage and Njinmah forced another late change of course. As examined extensively in Get German Football News’s 2026/27 Werder Bremen tactical preview, Bremen entered the campaign having sold starting goalkeeper Mio Backhaus, promising centre-back Karim Coulibaly and primary creative midfielder Romano Schmid.
Stage’s injury led Bremen to sign Ajax midfielder Youri Regeer on loan with a reported €5m purchase option. Werder then completed their 14th and final incoming transfer by bringing Bayer Leverkusen fullback Arthur to Bremen. Thioune placed both late arrivals in his starting XI immediately against the German Red Bulls.
New midfield requires only three days together
Arthur was one of three changes from the team that lost in Freiburg. Regeer also went straight into the lineup, while Dinkçi made his first Bremen start since returning home. The most remarkable reconstruction took place centrally. Chuki, Reis and Regeer comprised an entirely new midfield unit. According to Thioune, the three had effectively known one another for only three days.
Bremen nevertheless required only four minutes to produce a goal that encapsulated several of the qualities their coach wanted. An aggressive high turnover created the opportunity. Chuki immediately slipped Dinkçi through. The returning attacker finished clinically.
“Martin said that his team wasn’t present at the beginning [of the match], but mine was,” Thioune noted in his opening remarks at the post-match press conference. “Niclas Füllkrug’s opening tackle counted as a statement that helped remind all of us what we were here to do today. The stadium was with us. The atmosphere was top [class]. And, of course, it helps to score an early goal, but the manner in which we did so. Winning a ball up top, then Chuki with the through ball.
“Not everyone can play like that,” Thioune continued. “And I’m very happy for Eren that he scored for us again with his first touch of the ball. I was very impressed by the manner in which the team brought intensity to the game over the course of 90 minutes. Dealing with all the noise in recent days about whether or not this squad was good enough proved very strenuous.”
“I think the midfield [consisting of new additions Chuki, Ludovit Reis and Youri Regeer] in particular demonstrated how they can work together in a balanced fashion,” Thioune added. “These are lads on the pitch who have only known each other for three days. I also think we played very well on the wings [with new signings Dinkçi and Arthur]. Great synchronization between the wingers and fullbacks.”
That comment is particularly noteworthy given how dramatically the Bremen midfield has changed.
Thioune remarked earlier this week that Senne Lynen was effectively the only remaining member of last season’s central group. Schmid left for Italy. Stage is unavailable for months. Regeer arrived only at the end of the window. Chuki and Reis are themselves summer additions.
Saturday represented the first evidence that the pieces might fit together more quickly than expected.
Füllkrug and Dinkçi furnish the footballing romance
For all the tactical importance of the new midfield, Bremen’s goalscorers ensured that the afternoon inevitably acquired a more sentimental theme. Dinkçi kissed the Werder badge after giving his hometown club the lead. Füllkrug followed him onto the scoresheet in the 68th minute.
Grüll’s corner found the former Germany international in an extraordinary amount of space approximately 12 metres from goal. Füllkrug supplied the finish and celebrated his first Bundesliga goal since returning to the Weserstadion.
Thioune was well aware of how neatly the afternoon’s script had been written.
“We’ve written the story for all the footballing romantics out there,” Thioune said. “Niclas scored. Eren scored. Marco Grüll did an outstanding job [on the left flank]. Now we’ll look forward to how everyone will get to work together after getting to know each other better.”
Füllkrug himself was rather less surprised by his contribution.
“It’s difficult for Leipzig to man-mark me,” the 33-year-old told DAZN afterward. “I knew that I would score. You could see from the first second who wanted it more. You saw it in every duel and in every position. Today there wasn’t a single player for us who didn’t play a good game.”
“You have your problems,” Füllkrug said of Bremen’s difficult previous week. “Then, in the final week of the transfer window, two or three important players leave when you need them because you have injuries. Then new players, who might still have one or two little issues, have to play 90 minutes straight away.
“You saw in Freiburg that the intensity wasn’t quite there yet,” Füllkrug continued. “But we reacted very well.”
Closed training helps Bremen accelerate integration
“We locked ourselves away and focused on this opponent [RB Leipzig],” Thioune said when asked how the newly assembled team performed so well. “That’s why we didn’t train publicly. We worked on playing in this [tactical] constellation with this collection of players. That did us and all individual players a great deal of good.
“As you saw, there were seven starters who haven’t been with us for a while; five of whom weren’t with us during the pre-season,” Thioune continued. “I think it’s justified for me to ask for time and patience.”
He also rejected the temptation to use the Leipzig victory as definitive proof that the critics had been wrong.
“All the talk and the questions [about the squad] are legitimate,” Thioune answered when pressed further about the debate surrounding Bremen’s transfer window. “It’s also a chance for everyone to show what they’re capable of. We don’t want to read too much into the result today. It was a great win today, but it’s worth toning down the talk as we need to perform like this on a regular basis.
“We need results to truly silence the talk,” Thioune concluded. “We can improve the quality of play.”
Thioune invokes the “Werder family”
Thioune concluded his press conference by moving beyond tactics and transfers. Sunday will serve as Werder’s “family day”, an event arriving at a particularly useful point for a squad whose members have hardly had time to properly introduce themselves.
The coach used the occasion to reflect on his first seven months in Bremen.
“Tomorrow is our ‘family day’,” Thioune said. “We haven’t [all] been together for that long. It’s not my responsibility to speak to the players. Clemens [Fritz] or [board chairman] Klaus Filbry will do that. But, if I were to offer some words for the ‘Werder family’, I’d say that – in my seven months here – this Werder family has stuck together in the toughest and most pressure-filled moments.
“That was the case [during Thioune’s first Bundesliga win] against Heidenheim [in late February],” Thioune continued. “That was the case in the derby [a massive home win against Hamburg in mid-April] and that was the case after this difficult start to the season [after last week’s loss against Freiburg].
“I’ll never forget how this Werder family sticks together [in tough times] and is capable of achieving good things,” Thioune concluded. “We owe it to the family to keep this up.”
The challenges facing Bremen have not disappeared. Saturday nevertheless supplied the first serious evidence that Bremen’s frantic reconstruction might contain more than emergency solutions.
For one afternoon at least, Thioune’s new midfield worked, the new right-back worked, two returning sons scored and a player who struggled badly during preseason helped finish off one of the Bundesliga’s stronger sides.
Thioune asked for time and patience.
His rebuilt Werder side just bought him some.
