“A good test at a good time” | OneFootball

On the eve of Eintracht’s friendly against Louisville City FC, head coach Dino Toppmöller gave his thoughts on the training camp in Louisville, Kauã Santos, Can Uzun and Farès Chaibi.

Head coach Dino Toppmöller on ... … the training camp in Louisville: “So far the boys have carried out what we’ve asked of them well, and there’s been a good intensity. After the tough game against Aston Villa, you could sense the first signs of tiredness in training today.”

… the upcoming friendly against Louisville City FC: “Generally speaking, the game will be a good test at a good time against a quality team with a clear structure in the way they play. They’re near the top of their league [currently in second place in the USL Eastern Conference] and they’ve progressed in the cup. We want to press high again, which is something we’ve been working on intensively in training, and we also want to try out a couple of things when we’re in possession. We’ll have to see how our energy levels are. We’re looking forward to the game in this beautiful stadium, in part because we’ve been made to feel very welcome here. We’ve got a good relationship with LouCity FC. I’d like to express a big think you to them.”

… team news: “We’ve got virtually everyone available but we also need to keep an eye on everybody’s playing time because we’ve still got another game after this. Nene Brown isn’t ready yet and Krisztián Lisztes won’t feature either. Jonny Burkardt completed today’s session without any problems so he’ll play tomorrow.”

… Kaua Santos: “Even before we started our pre-season work as a team, he was already in Frankfurt and doing targeted training by himself. We’ll carefully bring him back up to speed after his injury. We’re very pleased with his development.”

… Can Uzun and Farès Chaibi: “We always try to field players in the positions in which they feel the most comfortable within the overall structure. In that regard, it’s normal that sometimes you have to adjust things, like with Can Uzun playing on the left at the moment. Can has great dribbling ability, can play the decisive pass and deliver excellent crosses. That’s exactly what we want from him in that position. We’re trying to find a more central role for Farès Chaibi, be that as a No.6, a No.8 or a No.10. He played really well against Aston Villa in defensive midfield, he won a lot of balls back and looked good in possession. We give the boys rhythm and see how they cope in the different positions. We talked about it in advance with them and it’s great to see how comfortable they are and how willingly they’re embracing these roles.”