“Not ease off and work methodically”

VfB head coach Bruno Labbadia has almost a full squad to pick from for the away match against Eintracht Frankfurt, with only Serhou Guirassy (adductor tear) and Pascal Stenzel (muscular problem) ruled out of the trip to Deutsche Bank Park. “Fortunately Tiago Tomás has come back sooner than expected, although whether he can manage 90 minutes is not yet clear,” revealed Labbadia. “We’re going to work on some more details, try out different variations and simulate match situations so that we’re best prepared for Eintracht.”

The VfB boss sees no advantage whatsoever in the fact that Eintracht have the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Napoli next week to think about. VfB will have to pay particular attention to “extraordinarily good” SGE striker Randal Kolo Muani. “Randal is very quick, doesn’t need many chances and is getting goals,” he continued. “Eintracht know how to get him into good positions.”

Göz Atın

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Narrow defeat in Bremen

Stay focused and calm

The focus in this week’s training has been on playing out from the back, chance conversion and defensive work. “It’s about further minimising the number of chances we concede, and continuing to work in a calm and methodical way. The relegation battle is tighter than usual. It’s important to not ease off for one second, to stick at it, stay calm and work methodically on the things we need to do better,” added Labbadia.