Frings slams Bremen ahead of Twente clash

Werder Bremen captain Torsten Frings has slammed his side for their lack of “killer instinct” ahead of Tuesday’s crunch Champions League clash with FC Twente.

Bremen need to beat the Dutch league winners at their Weserstadion ground if they are to keep alive their hope of reaching the Round of 16.

But Frings’s side slumped to a 3-1 defeat at home to Nuremberg in the Bundesliga on Saturday, despite taking an early lead.

After just ten games, it was Bremen’s fourth defeat of the season and former Germany midfielder Frings was unimpressed with what he saw.

“Some of the team just do not know what it means to play for Werder Bremen,” fumed the 33-year-old.

“They need to realise the obvious: our situation is serious.

“There are too many people who are too careless in this team.

“Everyone needs to ask themselves if he gives everything for the club, week after week.”

Frings also launched a thinly-veiled attack on Bremen’s former Twente striker and Austrian international Marko Arnautovic, who has scored just two German league goals this season.

“We do not have the killer instinct,” said Frings, as Arnautovic missed a string of chances against Nuremberg and also in the 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the German Cup last week.

Frings is also furious with French defender Mickael Silvestre, the former Manchester United and Arsenal star, who was brought into stabilise the Bremen defence at the start of the season, but has made a string of errors.

Out of the German Cup and 11th in the league, Bremen are third in Group A with two points behind leaders Inter Milan and second-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Fourth-placed Twente are also on two points and the two sides drew 1-1 when they met in Holland on October 20.

In contrast to Bremen’s faltering fortunes, Twente are on a roll.

The Dutch champions warmed up for their trip to Germany in fine style at the weekend with a 1-0 win over PSV Eindhoven, who famously thrashed Feyenoord 10-0 last week.

Twente are unbeaten at the top of the table with 28 points from a possible 36 and enjoyed their first win at Eindhoven for 37 years against 10-man PSV to go top of the league.

Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz set up Nacer Chadli on the hour to seal victory for unbeaten Twente who were thrashed 4-1 at Tottenham in their last Champions League game.

The Dutch team started the group phase by drawing 2-2 at home with holders Inter Milan and coach Michel Preud’homme wants points from the trip to Bremen.

“We played quite well in the first match against Inter and didn’t play badly in the second, but we lost that one,” said Preud’homme.

“Now we want to get some points.”

Emir Bajrami and Bart Buysse are injured for Twente, but Denny Landzaat and Luuk de Jong are fit to take their places in the squad.

Bremen boss Thomas Schaaf knows three points will bring his team closer to their dream of reaching the last 16.

Schaaf said: “Twente are a very good team and are always strong at home. They played very well against Inter and we have seen how difficult it is to do that.”