Thomas Eichin is backing under-fire Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf

Werder Bremen's director of sport Thomas Eichin has reaffirmed his backing for under-fire coach Thomas Schaaf.

Eichin's backing comes in spite of a winless run which now stretches back to early February.

Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen was Bremen's 10th game in a row without a win and it left them just two points clear of the Bundesliga relegation zone with three matches of the season remaining.

Next weekend, they host 17th-placed Hoffenheim in a pivotal relegation battle with the pressure mounting on Schaaf, whose near 14-year reign is on the brink of collapse.

However, he continues to enjoy the backing of the people who have to make that decision with Eichin insisting no change will be forthcoming.

"None of us had spoken about this being a final game," he said. "We made it clear before the game that we will be continuing with Thomas Schaaf.

"There is nothing else for us at the moment. We all want to get out of there together, and I am sure we can do it better with him than without him."

Eichin, who has yet to taste victory since being appointed as the club's new director of sport earlier this year, has called for unity in the club's unlikely and unexpected battle against relegation.

"We've all got to stick together and focus on how we go into our next game," he told Sky television.

"We've got to work well this week and prepare ourselves to be courageous and passionate in our next match."

That is no small task either considering the morale levels at the northern club who will now go a third season without qualifying for Europe.

The suspension of Marko Arnautovic and Eljero Elia, who were both stopped by police in the early hours of Friday morning, contradicts the sense of unity Eichin is pleading for, however.

"I am lost for words," said Clemens Fritz. "We all know what is at stake and we had been working intensively hard during the week, and then two days before a game this happens. That's not on."