#5 Werder Bremen 2015-16
Trending
It is necessary to go back to the 2009-10 season to find the last time Werder Bremen finished in the Bundesliga top six, but if positions were granted on goals alone their record would look a lot more healthy. The club have been one of the league’s top six scorers in four of the last five seasons and rank fifth by that measure this time around.
Indeed, last season it was their prowess in front of goal that played a key role in preserving their top-flight status.
Bremen finished the season two points clear of a relegation playoff spot despite conceding 65 goals - nearly two per match and between 11 and 23 more than the six teams located three points either side of them on the table.
That they did so was thanks to the league’s sixth-best scoring record, as they banged in 50 goals in 34 matches (1.47 per match), with veteran Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro helping himself to 14 of them. In the first half of the campaign they notched only a goal per match; in the second, they ran wild, scoring nearly two per match.
Consecutive 4-1 wins over Bayer Leverkusen and Hannover, a 3-2 triumph over Wolfsburg and a 6-2 thrashing of Stuttgart during the season’s final few months saw them overcome their defensive deficiencies to avoid relegation.
