Werder Bremen have sacked manager Alexander Nouri, who replaced Leeds United’s Felix Wiedwald in the summer at the Bundesliga club.
In one of the least surprising pieces of news so far this season, Alexander Nouri has been sacked by Bundesliga strugglers Werder Bremen. The northern outfit failed to win any of their first 10 games in 2017/18 and sporting director Frank Baumann’s defence of the under-pressure coach had grown increasingly unconvincing by the week.
Nouri, the club’s former youth team coach, has now paid with his job. And Leeds United goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald will certainly be taking a vested interest in the events taking place at Bremen.
Though Nouri claimed that any accusations that he forced Wiedwald out were a little wide of the mark, per DeichStube, Leeds summer signing appeared to have no future under the 38-year-old once Jiri Pavlenka was installed as the club’s new first-choice ‘keeper.
And while Wiedwald may feel as if he had the last laugh, the fact is that one of the few good decisions made by Nouri this season was to replace the goalkeeper with Czech shot-stopper Pavlenka.
Wiedwald was a controversial figure in Bremen’s starting XI over the last few years and conceded, on average, more than two goals a game last season, including 13 in his last three outings in 2016/17.
And while Pavlenka did little to convince immediately after his summer arrival from Slavia Prague, the 25-year-old is starting to find his feet in Germany and, without his increasingly impressive performances, Nouri could have been put out of his misery a little earlier.
In total, Bremen have conceded just 12 goals in 10 games with Pavlenka between the sticks despite sitting in the relegation zone – as many as third placed Liepzig.
With Wiedwald under fire at Leeds and dropped in place of Andy Lonergan, the now jobless Nouri can at least take solace in knowing that he made one good call this season.
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