{"id":1933,"date":"2026-02-13T19:25:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1933"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:25:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:25:48","slug":"battling-bremen-braced-for-bayern-onslaught","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/battling-bremen-braced-for-bayern-onslaught\/","title":{"rendered":"Battling Bremen braced for Bayern onslaught"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bayern Munich’s visit to Werder Bremen’s Weserstadion could not have come at a worse time for the struggling hosts, who have been dragged into a German Bundesliga relegation battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 21 games played, Bremen sit in 16th, the relegation playoff spot, trailing Mainz in 15th on goal difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a sad state of affairs for the four-time German champions, the only club to have spent as much time in the top flight, 61 seasons, as Bayern during the Bundesliga era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous for Beck’s beer and an historic town square, Bremen is not one of Germany’s largest or wealthiest cities but popular Werder have a following which extends far and wide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Double winners in 2004 and 2009 Europa League finalists, Bremen’s decline is similar to that of German giants like Hamburg, Schalke and Hertha Berlin; change-resistant clubs failing to keep up while sleepwalking into a crisis of their own making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the season, Bremen sacked coach Ole Werner, who took them to the top-flight and stabilised them in the Bundesliga, after a contract dispute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some at the club were critical of Werner for failing to play Bremen-born and raised forward Nick Woltemade, who moved on a free transfer to Stuttgart before a big-money arrival at Newcastle United. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bremen took a risk with a season-long loan of Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface, but it has not paid off, with the injury-prone Nigerian ruled out for the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Werner’s replacement, Horst Steffen, was sacked in February, with replacement Daniel Thioune tasked with avoiding the drop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thioune sought to boost his players after losing his first game in charge against Freiburg on Saturday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The last thing I want to see is people dropping their heads,” Thioune said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Those who look down can’t see what lies ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’ve told the players to believe in the path we’re taking and to trust me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thioune promised his side would “work diligently and tirelessly to change our situation,” with the league leaders their next target. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bayern Munich’s visit to Werder Bremen’s We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1935,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions\/1935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}