Everything seemed ready to go, but at 16:00 CEST on the dot at Schenckendorffplatz torrential rain started to pour down. A classic summer storm prevented the planned start of the Blue-White’s pre-season out on the pitch. Anticipation ahead of the new season, which is reflected by the amount of season ticket sales so far, was also reflected by around 200 fans who had come to watch training, but the weather didn’t allow for the original plan and improvisation was needed. Instead, the players worked inside doing some gym work. “A proper training session would’ve been better in giving me a direct picture of the new players, because every second counts,” explained Pál Dárdai, who will lead the time for a sixth season. For the head coach as well as the supporters, there will be more more opportunities to watch the boys putting in the hard yards in the coming days. “People love this club and support us. If we can work well as a coaching team and everything grows together it will be worth coming again because then we will see a team built on mentality with character that gives everything for Hertha BSC. That is the first step before we can state any goals,” emphasised the head coach.

Hardly anyone counted EV Elversberg among the favourites for promotion last season. The club from the Saarland had returned to the 3. Liga following an eight-year absence thanks to an outstanding run of 17 games without defeat, but Horst Steffen’s team were regarded more as a candidate for relegation than they were for promotion. But even in a new division, SVE proved to be unstoppable; the club occupied a promotion berth without interruption from Matchday 5 onwards and sat atop the division from mid-September until the end of the season.

The full health and safety plan can be read here.

Bad news for VfL Wolfsburg and Kevin Paredes, who is set for several weeks on the sidelines with a muscle strain. The 20-year-old American winger suffered the injury in a training session at VfL’s training camp in Seefeld, Austria, on Tuesday morning. Further examinations at a hospital in Innsbruck on Wednesday morning confirmed the extent of the injury.

And Van der Vaart can see the Premier League title race turning into a three-way fight between Arsenal, City and third-placed Manchester United, who are in great form.

The U23s are in action on a Monday evening for the third time this season – with all three games away from home. The two previous away matches at the beginning of the week have ended in a stalemate: 1-1 in Wiesbaden in the opening round and 0-0 in Halle in mid-October.

Kerry Hau from Sport1 (via @iMiaSanMia) reported that De Ligt’s mentality, will to win, and defensive leadership has endeared him to the people at the club. Not only that, he also regularly communicates with his fellow defenders in German instead of his native Dutch.

New signing from Liverpool presented to the media during the training camp

Holders of the control bracelets will be admitted to the stadium on match day at designated entrances without further 2G checks.

Southampton haven’t been in a particularly strong position over the past few seasons. Indeed, they’ve failed to finish higher than 15th in any of the four seasons either side of their 11th-placed finish in 2019/20.