In the closing stages of SV Werder Bremen’s 2-1 win over Stuttgart, midfielder Romano Schmid stood on the sidelines, looking on anxiously. The Austrian had put in an enormous shift to help secure the three points which moved Werder seven clear of the relegation zone. Speaking to the press on Wednesday, Schmid said: “It was a huge relief. If we’re at 100 percent on matchday and everyone gives everything for each other, we’re a good team.”
Werder’s number 20 puts his side’s lack of results in recent weeks down to inconsistency within games. Against Leverkusen, for example, the Green-Whites stayed competitive for long stretches of the match and created their fair share of chances, but ultimately suffered a resounding defeat amid the Werkself’s title celebrations. “We have really good periods in every game,” emphasised Schmid. “But our biggest issue is that we can rarely sustain that for 90 minutes. If we can manage that, we’ll be a difficult team for anyone to beat.”
Schmid was deployed in a more attacking role against Stuttgart by head coach Ole Werner, and that change was rewarded with a battling performance in which he also set up Marvin Ducksch for the second goal of the game. “The change wasn’t difficult – I’ve recently played on the left wing for Austria,” says the Graz native. “My favourite position is behind the striker, where I played last time out. Going from central midfield to playing in attack isn’t a big change for me, because I interpret the position more as a number 10 that has licence to get in behind and attack.”
Werder will now be looking to continue the momentum from their win against Champions League hopefuls VfB into Saturday’s trip to FC Augsburg. Victory in Bavaria would move Werder onto 37 points this season, surpassing last year’s total of 36, virtually guaranteeing Bundesliga safety and, for Schmid, fulfilling a personal goal too. He knows what his team will need in order to get that victory: “We’ve started a run now and everyone knows that we’re determined to pick up more points,” explained the 24-year-old. “That’s why we’ll leave everything out on the pitch to make sure we get a result.”
