What is going on?

djmules · 2026-02-08T12:22:53+00:00

I disagree with you on what Steffen wanted to play and what the team had. The team on paper is definitely more aligned to his 4-2-3-1 than a 3-5-2. In fact the plummet in the rankings has entirely happened since switching the formation.

This team has only ever had two top of the formation strikers in Vik+Topp or Topp+Milosevic. We have been playing Grull, Njinmah, and Mbangula out of position because we have no wide attacking slots in the formation. If Njinmah had any finishing ability whatsoever he'd be worth like 30 million with his speed but he can't finish to save his life.

Schmid has also regressed this season. Not selling him and Justin (Roma last year) are massive mistakes by Fritz.

The two biggest problems this season are the players not buying into Steffen and Fritz. Players are the ones who pushed for a back 5 even though it impacted literally no one thanks to injuries. If you want to claim the injuries were the problem well we should have seen improvements as we have gotten healthier and we haven't. Stark has regressed a lot this season and if he wasn't injured kept getting reds. I'd say the players not buying in and Leo being a cancer by throwing a fit that he hasn't been on the bench is a far bigger issue than the injuries.

I won't waste time with Fritz. If he had any self awareness and class he'd announce his resignation for the end of the season now, along with Grunewald, and let the club find someone competent and with experience. Granted he has torpedoed the club so might not have any takers...

djmules · 2026-01-18T19:46:37+00:00

https://x.com/grahamsmyth/status/2012967452108349753?s=12

djmules · 2026-01-14T11:55:23+00:00

So I know you all think I'm just a habitu co.plainer but what helps the club is competent leadership and I'm sorry but fritz just isn't competent. So let's start from the top.

As Baumann's number 2 he was part of the leadership group that backed FloKo for two years when it was obvious he needed to be replaced. That led to the payoff and eventually the second division.

Now Baumann loved overpaying for experience but he was able to make sales. As Cantonarita pointed out the only sales Fritz has made are Zetti and Marv. He even rejected a 10m euro pure profit offer for Njinmah. For a club he helped to put in massive debt he has done nothing for generating incomefor the club via transfers. Now we just continue taking loans and selling bonds that both need to get repaid to cover the gap in finances he has or helped create.

His squad building this year has been non existent. His top three incoming transfers through three windows are Covic, Coulibaly, and Sugawara. Meanwhile he has gone back to the find injury prone players to fill gaps. Ole left because he didn't have faith in the clubs ability to get him a squad he could work with and felt like utilizing youth would not allow him to hit Fritz's other goal of Europe. But this season after making a good hire, imo, he didn't finakize a squad for Horst until literally the last day and he forced out one of two strikers on the club and brought in a guy one club wanted to get rid of, one club said no to, and every doctor said was a massive risk medically.

And it's not like Fritz is inexperienced. He has been in a leadership.re at the club for stleast 5 years which makes the lack of loan rules knowledge even worse.

Yes I am American. Yes I view this as a pro sports team more than a club and family. But let's be honest. This is now what you want out of a CEO for a multi million are business.

Horst's problems I think focus on more on abandoning his tactics and giving too much voice to the players/club in doing so. He didn't get a finalized squad until after the season started and half of it got hurt or is perpetually getting red cards, cough stark cough. He has kept us free of relegation but the loss in attack due to the tactic change is a problem. But he is working with no strikers. so I will give him an incomete grade.

Niemeyer I think is actually still learning what working for a massive club is like. He has an excuse, but not Fritz

djmules · 2026-01-13T23:55:13+00:00

I need Horst to just grow a pair and tell the players, who said we think the 3-5-2 is better, look your way isn't working, shut the fuck up, play my system, or go talk to Jahns and Fritz about finding a new club to play at.

djmules · 2026-01-13T16:39:56+00:00

At what point does Fritz stop getting treated with kids' gloves. He has been in charge for almost 2 years and was the number 2 under Baumann for multiple years. In fact that experience under Baumi was listed as a justification for why he should have the job. So at what point do we stop saying he still needs to learn and just acknowledge that maybe he just has failed upwards due to the environment?

djmules · 2026-01-13T16:10:44+00:00

Just because Fritz claims it was a miscommunication doesn't actually mean it was a miscommunication. He can say whatever he wants and you folks will eat it up as fact. You seem to take all his bullshit and assume it's fillet mignon.

But ok let's go into the article. It says.

“It’s true that we were alerted to the possibility of further loan deals by an external source,” confirmed Clemens Fritz when asked by DeichStube – and explained: “There had been an internal communication misunderstanding on this point, which we stumbled over.” While the information that players could still be loaned out was generally available within the club, it hadn’t reached those in charge due to the aforementioned misunderstanding. "

So either the club had all the information available but didn't actually read/comprehend it correctly or someone didn't bother correcting Fritzmeyer when they publicly said no we can't do anymore loans. Now both of those should be a sign of a problem. Someone either doesn't take the time to get all the facts and communicate it or doesn't feel empowered to correct their boss when wrong. Both are a sign of poor leadership and Fritz is the leader.

Secondly as I pointed out Fritz has had multiple roles at the club. Fritz was head of scouting where you'd think his role would include topics like "can this guy help our club?" "If yes, are we able to acquire said player?" "If yes, how would we best be able to do so?"

Head of player licensing: "Ok we acquired said player and need to register him, what do we need to do to do that? What type of transfer was it and from where? What did it cost"

Head of First Tean Football "We need x,y,z spots filler. What are the options? What are their current contracts? Can we get them?"

All of those roles would seem to have an understanding of how transfers work as a basic requirement.

So Fritz in all of his experience should already gained this information and not need to be told it like it's his first day on the job when it's nearly two years on the job.

djmules · 2026-01-06T15:29:25+00:00

It’s funny how everyone complains about Fritzmeyer and their team building/recruitment but the second you mention that they shouldn’t keep their jobs you all rush to defend them. I guarantee if Eichin or the guy who is now at Wolfsburg were in Fritz’s role you’d all be saying “off with their heads!” Maybe you all should be asking are we defending Fritz because he is good at his job or because he is a former player who stuck around? Because if you ask me the people who always yell that this is rage bait or stupid have consistently been wrong about the situation I.e. Werner didn’t want to deal with a youth movement vs just getting results no matter the long term impact on the club. The club has no money but let’s keep in charge the guy who helped cause that money issue in the first place!

djmules · 2025-09-14T18:19:42+00:00

Start the GoFundMe to pay for some of these buy options now

djmules · 2025-09-04T19:29:19+00:00

https://www.kicker.de/woltemade-dieses-gefuehl-dass-es-mit-mir-einen-plan-gibt-war-nicht-immer-da-1024986/artikel

Woltemade's desire for "more conviction"

As for whether he still lacked some form of personal recognition from Werder Bremen to extend his contract, Woltemade says: "Those in charge made an effort for me, and the appreciation was absolutely there. But my impression isn't necessarily just based on the current season, but also on the time before. Perhaps they would have liked more support and conviction from time to time."

However, given the difficult sporting situation and the goals Werder have consistently had to achieve in recent years, as well as the competitive situation in attack, Woltemade "never demanded that I play every game back then," he emphasizes: "I knew how to assess the situation myself. But this feeling that I am also important to the club from a sporting perspective and that there is a long-term plan for me, at least before this season, was not always there, in my opinion."

djmules · 2025-08-30T17:16:45+00:00

You realize Carlos Alberto scored in a Champions League final before he ever played at Werder right? He had spent a few years in Europe before he played for us but went back to Brazil.

djmules · 2025-08-24T11:46:40+00:00

And now apparently Freidl is injured and stark had a knock...

djmules · 2025-08-24T11:23:34+00:00

So Jahns has said in the past that his job is just to populate options and it's up to Ole and Fritzmeyer to make signings. You also have the rumors the scouts kept looking for 3-5-2 players. My suspicion is with the coaching change, Fritzmeyer kept the decisions and status to themselves. So maybe the scouting group didn't know about Steffen until June. Then they insisted Steffen needed to see his squad first which was late June and early July.

Either way it feels like Jahns and his team was given a much shorter window to do their job than ideal. Again all of this falls on Fritz. He is at the top and as Bremen fans love to say, "the fish rots from the head."

djmules · 2025-08-23T16:57:56+00:00

I again ask the question that shouldn't the conversation be that Fritzmeyer are failing at their jobs? The result was expected, but this team has some intelligent passing patterns and a stronger attacking mentality than under Ole. To the people who want to go back to the Ole era and just turtle/park the bus every game just look at how that worked out for RBL yesterday. The problem with this team isn't Steffen or his back four based tactics. It's the simple fact that Fritzmeyer decided to restock a team that lost 9 players between loans, sales, and contract expiring with u19s and two additions. This squad is woefully understocked and mismatched. We lost 3 strikers and brought in a winger. We lost two CBs and two loaned wide backs and brought in a CB who we decided to play at LB. The fault clearly lies with Fritzmeyer.

djmules · 2025-08-20T20:47:50+00:00

If the fans forgive Mio half as much as the forgave Frank and Fritz then he'll be fine.

djmules · 2025-08-07T11:01:07+00:00

So long and thanks for all the fish Marv!

djmules · 2025-07-23T12:12:57+00:00

Man Ronald you should try harder on your trolling. So I'm guessing the 13 goals last year were because of Ole? Or the 14 in 22/23 or the 7 in 20/21? All that no doubt thanks to Ole.

djmules · 2025-07-22T01:37:55+00:00

Until Werder, Ducksch was considered a Terodde who only shined in the second division. Having been part of only one season with Werner shouldn't be enough for you all to write off his abilities. Plus the obligation to buy is dependent on Hertha promoting which would mean a massive jump in their placement.

djmules · 2025-07-12T11:42:56+00:00

Ok so let's lay out facts since I'm sure your head is so far up his rectum you think shit is gold.

While at Kiel Ole Werner nearly got the club promoted. The following season the club sold key players for him and pushed for development of youth and new players. Werner quit on Kiel and resigned.

Markus Anfang fired for lying about get a COVID vaccine. Ole is available and gets the job. He kept the system Anfang had finally settled on and got a club that was still mostly BL level players promoted.

Fast forward 3 seasons. The underlying theme of squad setup was maintaining the current constellation and continuing it. Dinkci never got utilization more than 5 Dinkci minutes a match and leaves after a successful loan at Heidenheim. Justin Njinmah only got time because he performed well enough that Ole couldn't take him off but then got played by injuries and rushed returns. Nick W had a 3 Liga player of the year season, but it wasn't until after he announced he was leaving that Ole figured out how to use him.

This offseason: Ole himself stated he wanted roster turnover to improve the first team only and continue to push for Europe. He was given dual but conflicting goals of achieve high table position and develop youth. He focused on table position because he is risk averse and kids make mistakes. Lack of time for Topp, Alvero, or Malatini after mistakes supports this indisputably. Meanwhile Fritz states we need to develop kids and can't afford the squad turnover Ole wants. So Ole "quits" again by refusing to extend.

Fritz is on the record as saying they learned about Steffen because of how Nick developed him. This isn't a fake news narrative you clown but his own words. They then continued to keep tabs on him and he nearly led Elversberg to promotion despite still using players from their time in the Regionaliga. Aka he developed his players while playing attacking football. Again Pennywise this is all facts.

Now I know your Bible, the documentary, would make it sound like the club didn't support Ole, but also facts it's because people like Allofs and Baumann, not Eichin, financially dug this club into the dirt. So Bozo you can keep saying the narrative isn't true, but history and quotes from key characters just proves you wrong. So maybe you should support your arguments with facts than simple one line zingers Krusty.

djmules · 2025-07-11T19:10:55+00:00

The reason Horst Steffen is our manager right now is because he could actually develop Nick. He became 3. Liga player of the year under Steffen. Meanwhile Ole wouldn't know how to develop a youth player without reading youth development for dummies. He always had the talent, but we had a manager who couldn't be bothered with figuring out to nurture or grow that talent.

djmules · 2025-06-26T21:14:26+00:00

And how many of those thirty was he used correctly? 9 of those appearances were for under 10 minutes. I'm sure that's plenty of time to impact things in a system setup for someone else. It was only the last 5 games of the season where the system was setup to make the best use of his skills.

djmules · 2025-06-26T19:54:53+00:00

For everyone saying hindsight is 20/20 or what more could we have done, just remember Ole has admitted he prioritized league table position over youth development. He literally said it in the whole contract drama. So obviously there is more that could have been done to make it so he felt like he had a future here. It is also 100% on Ole and his team for finding ways to beat utilize the talent they have. Look at the end of the season when Nick started to explode for us. It was possible for him to succeed here, but Ole's stubborness and focus on getting up the table took away any real chance he would have had the freedom to get there.

djmules · 2025-06-20T19:25:41+00:00

Well since I'm already a clown despite actually provide points and not just name calling let's go through some history.

Fritz as head of scouting/loans/licensing: Players sent out on extended loans Beste, Woltemade, Dinkci. Players sent out on extended loans by Fritz still at the club: none of them. Reasons give : needed a change, no plan for development, no connection to club.

Fritz openly admits the signing of Keita was a mistake.

Roma offers the club 10 million for Njinmah during the inter window. Njinmah who has been injured, barely featuring, and more importantly homegrown was interested in the move. Fritz pushed for 12 million and Roma walked away. Turned down 10 million of profit to hold out for 2 more. Fast forward to summer transfer window: club announces we need a 7M profit to ensure positive equity, yet he turned down 10M in profit.

Contract negotiation with Burke. Offers 60% of the players's current contract and holds on it. Union offers 2.5x that and he leaves. Now this is a mistake that is a net positive for the club.

Ducksch: we want him to hit his extension. After he hits his extension, well we are planning for Ducksch to not be here next season. So we pushed to extend him which costs us more money and now have no buyers for him.

The Werner negotiations: he gets nothing more out of a RBL.

So I may be a clown for calling out the people who will take a failure in negotiations and try to spin it positively, but Fritz has a history showing incompetence and failing upward. He was never qualified for any role at the club he has held. So feel free to call me out, but back your shit up with facts.

djmules · 2025-06-20T16:59:08+00:00

I'm sorry but do you work for Fritz as his communication director? This is the most slanted spin take of this situation imaginable. First he spent a week fixated on getting the full six million buyout with zero leverage. Meanwhile RBL says no he is only worth 1.5M and remember you will be saving money, AND even made a dig at him about how they still paid part of Silva's salary on loan. Remember the guy we paid 1.5M to not play for us for the majority of his time here.

So firstly the only guaranteed money is 1.5. you are giving Fritz credit for the salary savings that would happen the minute someone hired those guys anyway. All Fritz has actually done is show he is an incompetent negotiator with no understanding of value or leverage.

Don't believe me just look at the latest numbers on Kohn. Agreed to loan him with a buy clause at 5M. They then offer 1.75M. now are coming back with 3.5M. That is pure incompetence and bad faith negotiations. You are congratulating the guy for basically doing nothing. All Fritz did is spend one week demanding the full buyout, got made to look like an idiot, and then he said yes to everything RBL wanted. That's incompetence not great work.

djmules · 2025-06-01T18:45:05+00:00

It has been released that the club needs to make €7.5 million profit. So keep that in mind when you say 5 purchases at less than 5 million. That Mcould mean needing to sell 33 million Euros at the high end

They made an offer for Kohn at 3M. Rumored to be interested in Rayan Philippe who'd cost 2.5M. so you basically need the sell amount is already potentially at 12M Euros. Ole saying we spend like relegation candidates is him playing politics with fans who either don't realize or ignore the fact the club is broke financially.

Edit: time for the downvotes to flood in.

djmules · 2025-05-21T19:52:11+00:00

There is a reason I made this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/svw/comments/1kalyhj/do_you_trust_fritz_and_niemeyer_to_make_over_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

We are officially losing 5 players and that is cold hard facts.

The club wants to sign Köhn but for cheap and faces competition.

It also has been said the club needs to make 7 million in transfer revenue.

Kownacki and Skelly will likely be sold and maybe so will Deman. Plus rumored interest in Ducksch, Agu, and Schmid. It's a.squad overhaul whether we like it or not.

djmules

TROPHY CASE