Thioune pushes Justin Njinmah to turn pace into goals

Justin Njinmah remains one of Werder Bremen’s most exciting talents but continues to struggle badly with his finishing.

In the 1–0 defeat to Hoffenheim, the forward again brought huge pace and constant danger, yet failed to take several big chances. For Werder, that was especially painful because, even after going down to ten men early, they repeatedly broke forward dangerously, often thanks to Njinmah’s bursts in transition.

The 25-year-old underlined his raw tools with a top speed of 35.8 km/h, making him the fastest player across the entire Bundesliga matchday. Head coach Daniel Thioune was keen to highlight that side of his game. “His pace has opened up many opportunities for us,” he said, praising the spaces Njinmah opened up with his runs.

At the same time, Thioune made it clear that wastefulness in front of goal cannot be ignored forever. “The boy isn’t doing this intentionally,” he stressed, but reminded that in “performance-oriented football” it is fair to expect counterattacks to be finished “better and cleaner.” Werder are convinced of his ability and will keep working closely with him, with Thioune even suggesting that “mind movies” might be holding him back. The coach pointed out that Njinmah has already proved he can score, and the task now is simply to finally untie the knot.