New year, new luck?

Finally the team starts training again. While some Bundesliga clubs start practising on 28th and 29th of December already, today (Monday) BVB coach Bert van Marwijk asked the players to join Borussia Dortmund’s first training session of the new year.


And this session started with a big surprise: though the first unit was scheduled for 10am CET, the masses of journalists and photographers had to wait for about half an hour till press officer announced that today’s training would take stage as an endurance test in nearby stadium “Rote Erde”. A surprise because when Bert van Marwijk took over last summer he pointed out that he doesn’t give to much on lactic acid tests. But it seems that special situations need special treatment.

The endurance test with pulse control was a 5x1000m track test, with short periods of recovery after every 1000m. The players run in small groups á 4 persons.
Christoph Metzelder and Otto Addo, who had their comebacks against Hansa Rostkc (Metzelder) and LR Ahlen (Addo) already, were back with the team. Also joining were Salvatore Gambino and Evanilson, who were tested successfully by Egid Kiesouw after their rehabilitation program. Missing were Patrick Kohlmann and David Odonkor, who are still in reha treatment, and Jan Koller with a minor thigh injury. Christian Wörns got due his Asian tour with the German national team 1 day extra holiday, as well as Juan Ramon Fernandez, who arrived in late afternoon as his cousin died in Buenos Aires.
After the test coach Bert van Marwijk was at all somehow satisfied with the results. “Everyone must be absolutely fit”, was his announcement for the short time of return leg preparation. But especially Sunday Oliseh’s performance aroused van Marwijk’s massive irritation. Already after half way of the test he couldn’t keep up with his group, had to fall back 80m, and finally stopped the test and instead made elastic exercises. A positive conclusion on the contrary ex-skipper Metzelder drew, who demanded a better performance of the team and that the players don’t act as individuals anymore but present themselves more as a functioning team. He also stated that he welcomes friendly matches in the next weeks: “I have the absolute will and appetite to play the upcoming tests”. In the same statement he demanded to take these matches seriously to be fully and to the best prepared for the return leg.
After this lactic acid test BVB’s first press conference of the new year took stage in the media centre of Westfalenstadion. Dr Rauball and Bert van Marwijk answered several questions regarding the return leg and many other topics. Very early Dr Rauball made clear that “the squad most likely will not change till the Wolfsburg match”. The only exception is Juan Ramon Fernandez, who returns from his 1-year loan deal with River Plate Buenos Aires. He also stated that the management is steadily on the search for new players, that are affordable – so there were two offers by Italian Serie A teams to loan two player to BVB for free. But these deals failed due to the players veto as they saw a chance to take their chances at their current clubs. Dr Rauball wasn’t willing to tell the names of the offered players (sg.com: the teams were Juventus (Olivier Kapo) and Inter). Also Bert van Marwijk made no doubt that new players are definitely needed. Though he didn’t mentioned certain position he wished to have “more tactical options on the pitch”.
At all van Marwijk made the impression that he is willing to fight. “In the first matches we showed that we can play football very well”, van Marwijk reminded of matches against Bochum and Mönchengladbach and put new hope in the fact that the team have got to known each other better and that long-time injuries like Evanilson, Gambino, Addo, Metzelder and Fernandez are fit for the start of the return leg. At the same time he made clear that we can’t demand “top performances of the team”.
But on the other hand he demands better performances than in the firs half of the season. “I guess, the players know what’s at stake in the return leg”, said van Marwijk, who together with Dr Rauball sent some massive words to the squad in the team cabin. The president also made clear that “we face a difficult, maybe one of the most difficult return legs of BVB’s history”. In the same speech Dr Rauball also addressed the player’s pride and demanded to realise that they can consider themselves lucky that they are pro-footballers. He made a comparison with those people that struggle to pay their expenses and from this year on suffer from social reforms like “Hartz IV”.
At the end BVB coach Bert van Marwijk made clear that he definitely is not thinking of giving up: “On December 17th I left Dortmund to get home, but on the next Monday I already wanted to get back to Dortmund and start working.” Kind of words BVB fans nowadays surely like to hear. At the same time he showed that he hasn’t lost his humour. To a question of a well-known Dortmund journalist, who had made his own thoughts regarding BVB’s midfield, van Marwijk answered: “We can also use Otto Addo as goalie!”

Geschrieben von Tommy