Friendly
11.10.24
Baumgart: “There are plenty of positives”
Steffen Baumgart and his side used this week of the international break to play a friendly. The coach spoke about this as well as the current state of play at the Volkspark in a press conference.
Head coach Steffen Baumgart let his side go for the weekend after they drew 1-1 in a friendly match against Danish first-division side Aarhus GF on Thursday. “It’s not a free weekend,” emphasised the coach, but there aren’t any sessions scheduled to take place at the Volkspark. During his press-conference, Baumgart discussed the plan for the next few days, his assessment of the Aarhus friendly as well as the latest squad news.
Steffen Baumgart on...
...the friendly against Aarhus GF: Both teams tried to play football. We wanted to take this game seriously, maintain high levels of concentration and step up to the task at hand. I saw plenty of this, and we saw plenty of positives for us to take. Therefore, I’m pleased with our performance. In addition, we were able to give a lot of players some match minutes, for example Bakery Jatta who has just recovered from injury, and Lucas Perrin who almost completed his first full 90 minutes for us. We were also able to bring on some of our young players at the end, and these are all important factors for us.
...his thoughts on the aforementioned players: Lucas Perrin showed what we know he is capable of and what we want to see from him: strong in the tackle and playing with real clarity. Bakery Jatta worked as hard as always, and even got on the scoresheet. After being out for a long time due to injury, the match practice will have done him some good and helped him get back in the swing of things. With regards to the young players, Otto Stange certainly had a good time out there, and things could get very interesting with him in the future. He’s still a bit wild at times, but I’d rather have to calm a player down than have to push them on.
...the players who picked up knocks: Robert Glatzel felt something during the game, which is naturally frustrating, but unfortunately is just a part of sport. We’re now going to wait for the results of the diagnosis and then see where we go from there. There’s no point guessing or speculating at this time. Silvan Hefti still wasn’t ready for yesterday, he’s not at 100% yet, but I hope that he’ll be able to make a full return to team training next week. The same goes for Daniel Heuer Fernandes, who I had in my thoughts for the Düsseldorf game, but that unfortunately didn’t pan out. I’m expecting him back in training next week, though.
... the next few days: The players won’t return to the Volkspark after the friendly, but they’ve been given their training plan for the next few days and will do some individual work before they return to the Volkspark on Tuesday.