Club Haberleri

VfL Wolfsburg played out a goalless draw with newly promoted Serie A side Como 1907 at their training camp in Austria. A promising performance from Ralph Hasenhüttl’s charges against a physical Italian outfit was marred by an injury to Joakim Maehle, who was forced off in the 68th minute after suffering damage to his ankle in a challenge with an opponent.

SV Werder Bremen celebrated a 2-1 win in their second pre-season friendly against Coventry City. A total of 11,301 spectators were on hand at the Coventry Building Society Arena to watch the match, the second of the day between the two clubs. The Green-Whites took an early lead through Keke Topp (5’) before being pegged back by Jack Rudoni (28’). The closing stages of the game saw Marvin Ducksch score the winner for Werder (85’), as the match ended 2-1.  

FC Barcelona seems to have legitimate interest in Bayern Munich star Joshua Kimmich. The problem for the Catalans is that Bayern Munich does not seem all that eager to let the Germany international leave. Either way, this story continues to take turns.

In terms of departures, Werder had to say goodbye to regular players Chiara Hahn, who moved to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, and Nina Lührßen. Lührßen left the club for Eintracht Frankfurt after twelve years and 138 competitive matches.

SV Werder Bremen, who face VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga opener at the beginning of September, began their summer preparations a fortnight ago. Since then, the team have already played two friendlies where they have already shown some strong early form. A 12-0 win against Union’s recent play-off opponents SV Henstedt-Ulzburg was followed by a 3-0 victory against second-division side Borussia Mönchengladbach last weekend.

Blame can be pointed any which way, but there’s no denying how much under the limelight the squad has been through this year’s struggles — including from their own bosses.

In the age of media and digitalisation, even a supposedly simple sport like football is becoming increasingly complicated. Data and statistics are playing an ever greater role, nutrition and sports science are finding their way into the dressing room and even supposedly small mistakes are being punished faster and harder, especially on the pitch. It takes more arms, eyes and brains to manage this mountain of information and tasks than one head coach alone can have. For this reason, Bo Svensson does not work alone, but relies on the support of his colleagues.

Thorup’s side continued their pre-season preparations against the 2015/16 Premier League winners. His starting XI included goalkeeper Nediljko Labrović and Kristijan Jakić, while Dimitrios Giannoulis started down the left.

It’s fair to say that the transfer succeeded, with Kimmich becoming one of Bayern’s most important players as a No. 6 in midfield. But perhaps Bayern have been utilizing Kimmich wrong. Reschke, speaking to Kerry Hau (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), certainly thinks so. “I personally think Jo is best utilized as a No. 8 or in a double pivot as the more attacking part that directs the play, because that’s an outstanding quality of his. I see Jo a bit more forward. But of course that’s also Leon Goretzka’s preferred role.”

In the penultimate friendly of pre-season, goalkeeper Noah Atubolu was unavailable after undergoing an operation on his appendix on Friday. Nicolas Höfler, Maximilian Philipp, Lukas Kübler, Eren Dinkci (all knocks) and Kenneth Schmidt (ill) all also missed out.

TSG have finished off their training camp with a defeat: Hoffenheim’s friendly fixture against Ipswich Town...