He was the hero of the game in Sinisheim, and yet six days later it is hard to put a smile on his face. Jens Stage would have liked to have rounded off a special week and turned a solid start for SV Werder into a strong one with a positive result this weekend. “To be sitting here with zero points,” explained Stage during the Ledvance VIP-Talk in conversation with stadium announcer Arnd Zeigler after the 1-0 defeat to SC Freiburg, “doesn’t feel good.”
The 4-3 win against Hoffenheim, where the Dane scored a hattrick, came at some cost. Alongside centre-back Niklas Stark, Stage’s fellow midfielder Senne Lynen also missed the home game against Freiburg. Stage received an able replacement in the shape of Skelly Alvero, but someone with whom he still obviously needs to fully learn the automatisms of the game. “He put in a strong performance and I was really pleased to see that,” said Werder’s number 6. “Obviously it is a bit different in terms of roles – who goes in behind and who stays in the six position – then it’s about finding the right dynamic and here there is also still room for improvement.”
In his analysis, the 28-year-old noted that the Green-Whites had to fight a lot more in challenges than last week, and that there were less chances on goal from these turnovers. Despite leaving emptyhanded, Stark is looking forward positively to the rest of the season considering the strength in the squad. “I think that we have a very strong group with strong morale, as we showed last week,” said the midfielder. “we have a very strong team, that can compete with most opponents – because of that I’m really looking forward to the season.”
A personal highlight awaits Stage in the next few days, as he joins up with the Denmark national team for the first time in over three years. This will at least be a little bit of consolation once he has got over the 90 minutes today. “It will mean a bit more to me tomorrow because today the feeling from Freiburg still weighs heavily,” confessed Stage, who has one international cap to his name. “Obviously I am really pleased, just like for Marco, to be going on international duty.” It is an experience that the Green-Whites can only benefit from.
