Justin Njinmah indicated his qualities in his first Bundesliga appearance for Werder: A goal and an assist by a Bremen substitute on his debut were unique so far.
Justin Njinmah set an example at his Bundesliga premiere. IMAGO/Northphoto
It is hypothetical whether the final result of 4-0 would have been so convincing if everything had gone as planned. If Werder coach Ole Werner had substituted Olivier Deman when they were 2-0 up against 1. FSV Mainz on Saturday – instead of Justin Njinmah, who was only given preference over the new Belgian signing in the 76th minute because attacker Dawid Kownacki had previously given a sign that his strength was no longer sufficient. “Maybe Olivier would have scored two goals,” Werner replied, at least with his dry humor.
However, what would have spoken against such a scenario is that Deman would have come into the game as a left rail player for Anthony Jung. Njinmah, on the other hand, slotted in up front alongside Nick Woltemade, who came on after 23 minutes to replace Marvin Ducksch, who had a thigh injury. In the final quarter of an hour, the Werder attack consisted of a duo that had played in the 3rd division last season: Woltemade was loaned to second division promoted Elversberg, Njinmah to Borussia Dortmund II.
Werder debut: Behind Diego, level with Sanogo
But especially for the latter, the game constellation was a hit after his substitution: Mainz had to go almost all in after being 2-0 down, which opened up space for counterattacks – which Werder then knew how to cleverly exploit. Mainly through sprinter Njinmah, whom fellow player Niklas Stark aptly called a “switching player”. He prepared the pre-decisive 3:0 after a counterattack on the right, with a mixture of a supposedly unfortunate shot and a cross to Leonardo Bittencourt. And for the 4-0 final point, the joker made his Werder debut in the Bundesliga himself, after a short start.
Since kicker recorded assists (1988/89 season), there has only been one player from Bremen who had more points than Njinmah when he made his debut for the North Germans: the Brazilian attacking artist Diego submitted on matchday 1 of the 2006/07 season in the 4th : 2 win in Hanover with one goal and two assists. Striker Boubacar Sanogo started a season later, like Njinmah, with a goal and an assist. However, only the current Werder professional was substituted on – so nobody was more successful as a joker.
Njinmah: Tempo – but also deficits
The 22-year-old has long been aware that speed is considered Njinmah’s big plus. During the training camp in Zillertal, he made a remarkably mature first public appearance, also talking about the unnecessary cooperation with an athletic trainer: “I was fast enough.” After Njinmah’s dream premiere, Werder’s head of professional football Clemens added: “Actually, you can’t keep him.”
But with all the speed that the loan returnee brings with him, there are still some footballing deficits that became apparent, especially during the Bremen pre-season – and even in other promising game situations against Mainz. Njinmah still has to work on his first contact in particular, especially if he doesn’t get as much space as last Saturday.
2023-09-06 11:43:08
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