Thomas Reis: Put ourselves in a good position

The side from Berlin were the last team to visit the VELTINS-Arena and Thomas Reis wants his team to build on that night, which saw the hosts run out 5-2 winners. “Anything is possible together with our fans. Their support has been fantastic all season,” said the coach.

Reis is fully aware of the pressure on the Royal Blues due to the current state of the table. “You are under pressure in any Bundesliga game, that’s nothing new for us. We can only control what happens in our own games.”

Reis knows that a solid performance over the full 90 minutes will be needed to beat SVW. “We have to win the duels, function as a team throughout the match and show that we want to win the game,” stated the 49-year-old.

One important thing for Reis’ side will be keeping their eye on Werder’s dangerous attackers. Niclas Füllkrug, who has missed the last two games with a calf problem, is the league’s top goalscorer with 16 goals. His strike partner, Marvin Ducksch, scored a hat-trick away at Hertha last time out. “Bremen have other dangerous players too. We can’t just focus on their strikers,” said Reis.

Krauß available again – Yoshida an option

As well as a solid defence, Reis wants his side to create chances and then take them. “Our style of play needs to force the opposition into making mistakes,” commented the German, who has more players available to him than in Freiburg.

Tom Krauß, who missed that 4-0 defeat due to a yellow-card suspension, is eligible to play again. Maya Yoshida has also returned from the muscle strain that kept him out of the last two games. “He has trained so far this week, but we will have to wait and see how the final session goes tomorrow. It’s a case of deciding how much of a risk we want to take,” revealed Reis.

The game will come too soon for Cedric Brunner after his shoulder injury, though the Swiss defender is back in training, as is Sebastian Polter. The striker suffered an ACL injury during the winter training camp in Belek. “He has been in full training for a week and a half now. We are thinking about including him in the squad to face Bremen.”