Preud'homme tells Twente to prove their worth

Michel Preud'homme knows FC Twente are in urgent need of a win as Thomas Schaaf's SV Werder Bremen come to Enschede with the two sides occupying the bottom slots in UEFA Champions League Group A.  However, he insisted that the Dutch champions would not throw caution to the wind in this reprise of a UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie from last season.

Michel Preud'homme, Twente coach
We played quite well in the first match against Inter and didn't play badly in the second, but we lost that one [4-1 at Tottenham Hotspur FC]. Now we want to get some points. We always start with the intention of winning, but this a very strong group. We will try to force and create chances, but we will not commit hari-kari. A match is 90 minutes long and you can win in the 89th minute with one goal. The Feyenoord match gives us confidence because of the result [a 1-0 win], but our football must be better.

German teams are well known for never giving up. We have to be careful and strong in one-on-one situations. We played a tough game against Werder [a 4-1 defeat in the UEFA Europa League round of 32] in Bremen last year but that's in the past. Our squad is almost fully fit; only Bajrami and Bart Buysse are still injured. Denny Landzaat and Luuk de Jong are in the squad.

Thomas Schaaf, Bremen coach
Twente are a very good team and are always strong at home. They played very well against Inter [drawing 2-2] and we have seen how difficult it is to do that [Bremen lost 4-0 in Milan on Matchday 2]. If we want to qualify we have to play well and take the three points with us to Bremen. We have the experience from last year [when Bremen lost 1-0 at Twente in their UEFA Europa League second leg] and have done our homework.

It is clear what Twente can achieve here, with the way they play and their fans behind them. It's nice to play here; it is a great assignment and the fans will push Twente forward. I hope we have learned from last time. We may have underestimated the match here then. We have to play well and focus better.

Team news
• Twente
Marc Janko (leg) and Theo Janssen (knee) withdrew from international duty but both started against Feyenoord on Saturday, when Dwight Tiendalli played his first game after four weeks out with a leg injury. Emir Bajrami (ankle) and Bart Buysse (ankle) are longer-term absentees.

• Bremen
Daniel Jensen was an unused substitute against SC Freiburg on Saturday after picking up an injury on international duty with Denmark, but Claudio Pizarro (thigh), Torsten Frings (hip) and Clemens Fritz (thigh) all returned to action. Tim Borowski (ankle) will not play in Enschede, where Pizarro could be rested. Sebastian Boenisch (knee) and Naldo (knee) are still missing.

Weekend results
16/10/10 Feyenoord 0-1 Twente
(Landzaat 78)
Denny Landzaat scored the only goal against his former club as Twente maintained their unbeaten start to their Eredivisie defence. Dwight Tiendalli came in for Nicky Kuiper as the only change to the team which beat FC Groningen 4-2 on 3 October.

16/10/10 Bremen 2-1 SC Freiburg
(Hunt 33, Hugo Almeida 73; Schuster 62)
Schaaf made three changes to the team which drew 2-2 at Bayer 04 Leverkusen on 3 October, Fritz, Frings and Hugo Almeida replacing Petri Pasanen, Philipp Bargfrede and Jensen. Bremen have won just two of their last eight games in all competitions.

Did you know?
Bremen's six previous visits to the Netherlands have brought five losses and one draw. The only time they avoided defeat was a goalless draw at AZ Alkmaar en route to a 2006/07 UEFA Cup quarter-final victory.

See the match background for more information.