Werder Bremen's downward spiral

In firing Viktor Skripnik, Werder Bremen have taken the first step in the right direction – albeit too late. Werder are already in deep trouble. Three defeats in three league outings, a goal difference of minus 10 and a German Cup humiliation at the hands of third tier Lotte – it is going to be a long way back for the Bundesliga’s bottom club.

But whoever succeeds Skripnik on a permanent basis will inherit the same squad cobbled together in the close season by the club’s new sporting director, Frank Baumann, and co. They will inherit the same inadequacies.

Lack of defensive quality
In Jannik Vestergaard (to Mönchengladbach), Papy Djilobodji (to Sunderland) and Alejandro Galvez (to Eibar), Bremen have lost the core of their defensive unit. Of the four players brought in as replacements, only Luca Caldirola (recalled from his loan spell at Darmstadt) has demonstrated the quality to play in the Bundesliga. But he broke his ankle on matchday 2 and will be out for the foreseeable future.

Bremen are now reliant on Fallou Diagne, Niklas Moisander and Lamine Sané at the back – not players a new coach will want to build his defence around based on their performances so far. Furthermore, Finland’s Moisander (signed from Sampdoria) and Senegal’s Sané (from Girondins Bordeaux) are new to the Bundesliga and will need time to adapt.

No midfield leaders
Who is going to ensure defensive stability for Bremen? Defensive midfielder Clemens Fritz? The captain wanted to hang up his boots in the off-season before changing his mind and signing on for one more year. He is well past his best. Meanwhile, young midfielders Robert Bauer and Florian Grillitsch seem overwhelmed by the pressure and responsibility of steering Bremen back on course.

Long term absentee Philipp Bargfrede – with all due respect no Michael Ballack or Sami Khedira – is sorely missed. Bremen have been lacking a leader for years and the need for a dominant midfielder to pull the strings in the center of the pitch during critical moments has never been greater. The days of Johan Micoud, Diego and Torsten Frings (at least towards the end of his career) are long gone.

One player who could offer a glimmer of hope is Zlatko Junuzovic. With his tireless running, creative assists and quality set-piece delivery, the Austrian has rescued many a point for the Northerners. But he and Skripnik operated on totally different wavelengths and the joy was sucked out of Junuzovic’s game. He wanted to move but ended up staying – perhaps he will rediscover his form following Skripnik’s departure.

Lack of strength in depth up front
Bremen's poor squad-building is also evident in attack. Claudio Pizarro and Max Kruse form a strike partnership which could grace almost any Bundesliga side but, with both out injured, they are short on alternatives. American international Aron Johansson is yet to prove he can score regularly in Germany since arriving from Alkmaar in 2015 (where he found the net 29 times in 58 Eredivisie appearances). Justin Eilers, also out injured, still needs to prove he can manage the step up from the third tier, where he scored 42 league goals for Dynamo Dresden.

Youngsters Johannes Eggestein and Lennart Thy have had their chances but have so far failed to convince. How some Bremen fans would love to have Lazlo Kleinheisler at their disposal. However the Hungary international, impressive last season, was very generously loaned out to direct relegation rivals Darmstadt.

In Olympic silver medalist Serge Gnabry, Bremen do have one small ray of sunshine in their ranks. As he showed with his stunning volley against Gladbach on Saturday, the German is certainly capable of delivering those game-changing moments. Whether that alone is enough to save an entire season is another question entirely.

No money, no stars
Bremen are the classic example of what can happen to a top club who spend many carefree years towards the top of the Bundesliga and in the Champions League before suddenly crashing.

In the successful era of coach Thomas Schaaf and sporting director Klaus Allofs between 2004 and 2010, Bremen finished outside the top three only once. Since then they have not ranked higher than ninth. In recent years though, the club have been especially bungling. The choice of coaches since Schaaf left in 2013 have not worked out. Robin Dutt showed in his spell at Leverkusen that he was not a Bundesliga-standard coach, yet still was hired by Bremen. Skripnik demonstrated that he too was out of his depth.

Bremen have a charming stadium with a good atmosphere and loyal fans. The city is also a nice place to be. Despite this, no top players want to play there anymore. The club are no longer able to pay top salaries and therefore there are no world class players in their squad and hence no world class performances.

One possible solution is loaning good players on the fringes at big teams. This worked well once. Kevin de Bruyne joined on loan from Chelsea in 2012/2013 and scored 10 goals, assisting in nine. But even the Belgian could not do it alone and Bremen only finished 14th.

Most fans now would be happy ending up 14th this term. Werder Bremen are set for a relegation dogfight whoever takes over from interim boss Alexander Nouri.