For Bremen’s only senior international Milos Veljkovic, the international matches were successful and he has also risen in the hierarchy at Werder. But statistically the central defender delivers negative values.
When Milos Veljkovic returns to Bremen on Wednesday, it should suit him that coach Markus Anfang has given the Werder professionals a day off. The defender played another 90 minutes for the Serbian national team in the match against Azerbaijan (3:1) on Tuesday evening. He is currently the only Bremen senior international called up.
He already played the full match on Saturday and also set up the goal in the 1:0 win against Luxembourg. The fact that Veljkovic is now once again a constant for the Serbian selection was not the case, at least not for a long time: in November 2018, he last played through two international matches in a row.
Veljkovic’s rise up the hierarchy
At SV Werder, for whom he has now been active for almost six years since his transfer from Tottenham Hotspur’s U23s, he has also moved up the hierarchy in the meantime. In the Bremen team council, he has taken the place recently vacated by Maximilian Eggestein, and against Hamburger SV, the centre-back even took over the captain’s armband after Christian Groß was sent off. Most recently, against Heidenheim, he wore it from the start for the first time.
With Ömer Toprak, Groß, Leonardo Bittencourt and Niclas Füllkrug, all the other members of the team council were unavailable due to injury. As a result, the team “naturally lacked some experience”, explained Clemens Fritz, Bremen’s head of professional football. So Veljkovic took over – although the Serb is not really considered a loudspeaker. “He doesn’t have to be,” Fritz thinks and says of the 26-year-old: “He is such an experienced player, even though he is still relatively young. “
Fritz: “We hope he continues to grow into this position “
Veljkovic has already been playing “at a certain level for years” and wants to take on the role as a leading player, says Fritz: “We hope he continues to grow into this position.” Of course, that works primarily through performance. After missing the first two games of the season due to a COVID-19 infection, the Basel-born player recently played six games in a row over the full distance – four times Werder played to nil.
Fritz: “You shouldn’t put so much stock in statistics like that.
Two individual figures, however, do not fit into this picture at all: With a rate of 46.3 per cent, Veljkovic is the worst tackler in the league so far (in the Bundesliga pre-season: 55.6). In addition, no other player in his position has a top speed lower than 30.11 km/h. “He also had some problems with injuries, in the preparation he was not really fit. But I have the impression that he is on a good path,” Fritz counters, “and you shouldn’t put so much stock in such statistics.”
Coach Anfang is also aware of these figures, but points out that a duel is also considered lost if the ball is straddled out of bounds, for example, but the opponent cannot get past the defender. Basically, he is satisfied with the central defender, not least in his build-up play – although there are always things to improve.
Toprak is still not available
According to Fritz, Veljkovic gives the team “a certain stability”. Otherwise, Ömer Toprak is mainly responsible for that. But the captain and head of defence has been unavailable for three games and more due to calf problems. He has already been continuing his rehab in Leverkusen for a few days. “Especially when you’re out for a longer time, it’s also quite good to get out,” Fritz explains, “you have more rest, you can just concentrate on yourself.” In the meantime, Veljkovic will get more opportunities to improve his personal statistics.
