Around 2,000 fans were in attendance for Daniel Farke’s first session in charge of Borussia Mönchengladbach. The new head coach had 19 outfielders and three goalkeepers with him on the training ground.
Head coach Daniel Farke and sporting director Roland Virkus arrived at BORUSSIA-PARK around the same time on Sunday morning, just after 10:00 CEST. Around 2,000 fans were at the training ground to watch Farke’s first session. “Having the ball at your feet again is a good feeling,” said captain Lars Stindl afterwards. “I was looking forward to the first training session. Having so many fans here made it even better too.”
Farke: “Excited to work with the lads”
Stindl, along with Tony Jantschke, Patrick Herrmann, Florian Neuhaus and Christoph Kramer, was first out at 12:25. Following the warm-up, which included passing and running drills, plus a 7v2 exercise, the players continued with intense fitness drills and worked on some tactics. Farke then finished off the session with a game played in one half of the pitch. “It wasn’t a relaxed start today,” summed up Stindl.
Daniel Farke, who, like his players, signed a number of autographs and took pictures with the fans after training, was happy after the start of pre-season: “I was impressed by the lads. They are open to listening to my ideas and were eager to get going. We worked hard today and I’m satisfied. I’m excited to work with the lads.”
10 training sessions next week
Famana Quizera, Rocco Reitz and Moritz Nicolas were all in training, having now returned from their respective loan spells away from the club. Torben Müsel, also now back at Borussia, is likely to join team training during the coming week. Four academy players – Simon Walde, Tom Gaal, Kushtrim Asallari and Jamil Najjar – were with the first team for the start of pre-season. “They did really well today,” stressed Farke. Mamadou Doucouré, on the other hand, will train with the U23s for the time being. “He will get back to full fitness there in the coming weeks,” explained Farke.
The Borussia players now have a busy week coming up with 10 training sessions and a friendly. “Pre-season is there to lay the foundations and to work on all aspects of our game. That includes fitness levels, but also tactics,” said Farke. “It will be an intense week for the lads.”
Friendly, then training camp
The first friendly of pre-season will be on Friday, 1st July away to Rot-Weiss Essen, who won promotion to the 3. Liga last season. Kick-off in Essen will be at 19:00 CEST.
Manu Koné, Hannes Wolf and Yvandro Borges Sanches are due to join team training on 2nd July and will travel with the squad to Tegernsee for a week-long training camp. Yann Sommer, Nico Elvedi, Breel Embolo, Stefan Lainer, Jonas Hofmann, Ramy Bensebaini and Joe Scally will all join up with their teammates there.
