Svensson: “We will use it to see where we’re at”

Mainz’s preparations for the restart of the Bundesliga season continue on Tuesday afternoon with a friendly against FC Luzern (15:00 CET). The match, which take place at the Marbella Football Centre, is FSV’s first of the new year. Bo Svensson believes the test against the Swiss Super League side is of great importance: “This is the first of two friendlies and we of course want to put in a good performance.”

The match will consist of 2 x 60 minute halves and the gaffer will be looking to rotate the team throughout. The Dane also sees Tuesday as an opportunity to see how his side are performing: “First and foremost, we want everyone to come through the match well but we will also use it to see where we’re at and to evaluate how much work we still need to do,” he explained after Monday’s training session.

The sun was out again on day 6 in Marbella after a wet session on Sunday. The players were put through their paces out on the training ground and were observed by a number of travelling supporters. There were passing exercises and drills to work on build-up play. “I think we had a good understanding of our positioning with the ball and there were some good phases of play. We saw some good attacking moves,” explained Svensson.

Seven players from the youth academy also took part in the session. Tristan Mohn, Brajan Gruda, Lovis Bierschenk, Lasse Wilhelm, Lucas Laux, David Mamutovic and Timothé Rupil, were all given the chance to show what they could do when mixing it with the first team and Bo was impressed with what he saw: “They are quite simply good players. Our coaches in the U19s and U23s do a great job. There is a lot of quality and no one falls behind.”

Above all, Monday’s session was about preparing for tomorrow’s test, which will be “very tough,” according to the gaffer.