Start preparing for winter
©IMAGO
1. FC Kaiserslautern has started its first team training to prepare for the second half of the 2nd Bundesliga. The Palatinate team is foregoing a winter training camp this year and will complete the entire preparation up to the first game against Hannover 96 on January 18th (1:30 p.m.) in Kaiserslautern.
“We have top conditions here and this is the environment we’re used to. We’ll be playing in similar temperatures in two weeks and then have no time to adapt,” said sports director Marcel Klos, explaining the reasons for this decision, which was made a few weeks ago.
Coach Torsten Lieberknecht was satisfied with the condition of his team after the short break. “The boys had to complete a few runs and their eyes were wide. It was important to us that we worked through a lot between the years so that we could now train for more complex things here,” said the 52-year-old after the first session of the new year.
1. FC Kaiserslautern: Two transfers in view – squad should be smaller
The coach wants to use the short preparation time to work on various aspects of the game. “We still have a few topics that we are trying to bring into the team in such a short time. Among other things, we want to convey that in addition to our high pressing, we can also operate from a second basic order,” said Lieberknecht, specifying the main points.
Signing a striker and a central defender is at the top of the list in the winter transfer window, which runs until February 2nd. “We had a few injuries on the offensive in the preliminary round, we are exploring the market and are interested in making further adjustments at the front,” emphasized sports director Klos. The FCK is also looking for reinforcements in defense. The reason for this is another injury to central defender Ji-soo Kim, who was on loan from Brentford FC, which he suffered during rehab training in England. “We’ll have to wait and see how things develop in the next few weeks and whether we can do something again in this position,” said Klos.
In return, the squad should also be reduced in size. Players who were hardly used in the first half of the season should be released. “We spoke to those concerned before the winter break. There were already trends there too. The situation for some players is actually clear in this regard,” said Klos. There are exit rumors in the transfer market rumor mill, for example about Dickson Abiama, in whom Rot-Weiss Essen is said to be interested.
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There is good news from Simon Asta and Kenny-Prince Redondo, who have returned to team training after long periods of injury. There is also hope for top scorer Ivan Prtajin and his strike colleague Mahir Emreli, who could soon return to the team after their injuries. Both are initially training individually. “It looks good. We will have some more tests on both players. They could be back on the pitch with the team in the next two to three weeks,” explained Klos.