Werder Bremen's unexpected upswing: lots of good stories

For over an hour it looked as if Werder Bremen would be in for another dreary afternoon: their opponents Augsburg were absolutely unimpressed by an average performance that was quite passable and instead scored two goals from a manageable number of their own chances. It seemed to be one of those days again when people in Bremen had to admit to themselves: somehow it wasn't enough.

This feeling has eaten into the curve throughout the last season. This was clearly evident before the season: the fact that those responsible on the transfer market acted very cautiously was met with, to put it mildly, a lack of understanding. It didn't help that the big exception to this reluctance was Niclas Füllkrug, who was loaned back from West Ham.

And Niclas Füllkrug is still above average in the Bundesliga. He has already proven that in the first three games: So far he has scored in the convincing win at home against Leipzig and in the rather dull 1-1 draw against Cologne. And now again against Augsburg, and how.

After the exceptionally active and effective Marco Grüll had brought Bremen closer in the last few games, four minutes before the end the ball fell to Füll's feet 16 meters in front of the goal, and he did what he was brought in to do: don't hesitate. The ball was traveling at 111 kilometers per hour when it hit the ball. These are moments when coaches then talk about the conviction that goes into such a shot.

And that's not all: three minutes over time, Mitchell Weiser also pulled out the magic foot and completed Bremen's final attack - after preparatory work by Grüll, of course - to win. There was something going on in Bremen, and after 85 minutes it seemed as if as a fan - as was all too often the case last season - you had to drink your way through a boring performance, after the final whistle you didn't know which of the many good stories you wanted to tell yourself again afterwards.

Was it that the previously undefeated third-place team had been destroyed? Was it that Weiser, of all people, scored the winning goal after he had not played for 14 long months due to a torn cruciate ligament? Was it Füllkrug's willpower, Grüll's game intelligence? Was it the fact that Bremen is finally showing games at home again that you don't want to have forgotten in the evening?