Club Haberleri

Henk Groener’s team travelled away to Metz Handball on Saturday to play their final pre-season friendly before the new season kicks off at home to Oldenburg on 9 September. The expected reunion with Alina Grijseels did not take place, however. The former long-term captain of BVB was carrying an injury and was not available to play for her new club. But that did little to stop the French champions setting the tone.

“We’re of course disappointed. I think we had imagined things differently. Manchester City is an absolute world class team if not the best in Europe. Football is all about results, but I think we had our chances today,” Kahn said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We conceded a long shot, then had our chances and got off to a very good start in the 2nd half. At this level against such a team, you shouldn’t allow anything, shouldn’t make mistakes because they are punished immediately. After the 2-0 we had problems and conceded the third.”

A Tale of Two years, and Two Further Loans 

Edin Terzic on the game in Bochum:
“We’re not satisfied with the performance or with the result. We played against a very passionate team and were missing many things, particularly in the first half. It was a tad better in the opening phase of the second half, but it was very open again towards the end with two teams that were fighting for the win. The performance was not sufficient to come away as the winner.”

“It will be a difficult task, of course,” Tuchel said (Abenzeitung’s Patrick Strasser via @iMiaSanMia). “Football is football and a match in Germany is a match in Germany. Everything can happen. It will not be over until we are under the shower.”

Hartenbach: We were already hit by the long absence of Philipp Lienhart and the even longer absences of Kenneth Schmidt and Max Rosenfelder. And even though we managed to get a player in for the second half of the season in Attila, we’re still quite short-staffed now. But you can’t plan in advance for so many injuries.

(1) How does every Hoffe fan recognise you? (2) What’s your most important tool at work?...

The rules state that the alternate jersey must be designed in completely different colours than the home and away shirts of a club, necessary if an opponent with similar club and kit colours have home rights when playing against Union.  

The newly-formed team have thus made a perfect start to the season. “The lads have taken a huge step, but we’re still at the beginning and must not drop off. I liked the way we contested these matches. It was very mature at times. You can see that every player is getting better. I’m happy with the development,” said head coach Mike Tullberg, drawing a positive initial assessment.

The Green-Whites started their preparations on Tuesday for the upcoming clash on matchday 23, where they’ll face off against SV Darmstadt 98 on Saturday, 24th February (15:30 CET) at the wohninvest WESERSTADION. Jiri Pavlenka was back in action after being forced to sit out of the away game against 1. FC Köln on Friday due to a finger injury. After leaving the pitch at the RheinEnergieSTADION with a strapped-up ankle, Justin Njinmah was given the all-clear to take part in Tuesday’s session with the rest of the boys.