There’s a cliché that managers like to trot out: “We want to score one goal more than our opponents rather than conceding one fewer.” It’s supposed to indicate an attacking mentality. Many talk the talk. But one club walk the walk more than any other in Europe.

Werder Bremen are, statistically at least, the most potent attacking force in Europe’s big five leagues. Through Saturday, they have scored 42 league goals in 17 matches, an average of 2.47, which puts the other top scorers to shame: Real Madrid (2.26 goals per game), Inter Milan (2.2), Arsenal (2.06) and Lyons (2.06).

Credit Thomas Schaaf, their long-standing manager. He may lack the-sophistication effected by other managers, but when it comes to attacking, he lives and dies by the sword.

Bremen lie joint-top of the Bundesliga, alongside free-spending Bayern Munich, which in itself is quite a feat. But they have also suffered the most brutal of injury crises.Patrick Owomoyela and Pierre Womé, the full backs, have been sidelined all season., Clemens Fritz, another full back, has missed six weeks. But he got off lightly compared with the two men who were supposed to provide the steel in Bremen’s midfield: Tim Borowski was out for two months, while Torsten Frings has made only three league starts.

It gets even worse up front. Ivan Klasnic, the Croatia striker who underwent a kidney transplant, returned to action only three weeks ago. Aaron Hunt, the Germany Under21 striker, was shelved until this month. And Carlos Alberto, the Brazil international who is the club’s record signing at £5.2 million, has yet to start a Bundesliga match.

Imagine Arsenal losing Bacary Sagna, Gaël Clichy, Emannuel Eboué, Gilberto Silva, Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott: you get the picture.

The bizarre thing is that Bremen did not change. They simply kept scoring, despite losing Miroslav Klose, their star striker, last summer. But, with Klose gone and Klasnic, Hunt and Carlos Alberto absent, they pulled two forwards out of the hat: Hugo Almeida and Boubacar Sanogo. Both have overachieved. The lanky Almeida, a reserve last season, and the unheralded Sanogo, a globetrotting Ivorian, who scored only four times in 31 games for SV Hamburg last year, have struck 13 league goals between them.

What all this suggests is that Bremen are prolific not because of the personnel, but because of the system. This was obvious again on Saturday, when Sanogo and Almeida were missing. They nevertheless pum-melled Bayer Leverkusen 5-2, with Klasnic getting his first two goals with his new kidney. Both Leverkusen goals were the result of an exposed defence. If Naldo and Per Mertesacker were not having superb seasons, Bremen would have conceded more.

Some suggest that, without Diego, the gifted Brazil international, who orchestrates every attack from the hole, none of this would be possible. But Bremen were a free-scoring side even before the 22-year-old’s arrival.

But you have to go back to Schaaf. True, his cavalier attitude towards the defensive side leaves his team open to embarrassing defeats, as shown in the Champions League, where they beat Lazio and Real Madrid, but were humbled twice by Olympiacos. Yet, overall, Bremen come out ahead.

You cannot help but wonder if the Schaaf method could work on a bigger stage, with better players. A one-club man who joined Bremen as an 11-year-old and worked his way into the first team and up the coaching ladder, Schaaf has not shown any desire to leave the Bundesliga. But then, despite winning two German Cups and the 2004 league title, no big clubs have come knocking. Perhaps it is time they did. At 46 he is entering the prime of his managerial career. If you want entertainment and plenty of goals, Schaaf may just fit the bill.

Satellites’ lack of vision

AC Milan won the Club World Cup yesterday, defeating Boca Juniors in a match that had everything, including six goals and two red cards. Of course, you would not have seen this game in the United Kingdom, despite the eight sports channels available on satellite. You would have been enjoying recorded coverage of the luge World Cup, recorded coverage of the A1 Grand Prix, or something called Seamaster sailing.

The naysayers call it a tinpot competition, pointing out that Milan and Boca beat sides from Japan and Tunisia in the semi-finals. But did the presence of Turkey and South Korea in the semi-finals make the 2002 World Cup a tinpot competition? The fact is that Milan, who beat Liverpool, Manchester United and Celtic to get there, and Boca, who won the Copa Libertadores, are the defending champions of the two continents that, more than any other, have shaped the game.

And it’s sad that neither the dozens of moneyed broadcasters in this country nor Fifa, which should have done a better job of selling the rights, had the foresight to make sure this game was on television in the country that invented football.

Koeman job on the line

Ronald Koeman’s results since taking over from Quique Sánchez Flores as coach of Valencia read like something from a horror show: played nine (in all competitions), won two, drawn three, lost four. They have managed five goals, all of which came in their two victories.

It was no different on Saturday night as Barcelona ripped them apart at the Mestalla, winning 3-0.

It is a well-known fact that Valencia’s board has an itchy trigger finger. Unless things change – and quickly – Valencia could have their third coach of the season before the spring thaw is with us.

gabriele.marcotti@thetimes.co.uk