The first day at Stuttgart
The Mercedez-Benz Arena wasn't as glamours as you would think, knowing the car brand. No, the stadium was, well, a typical stadium. They were similar to the stadiums that I worked in when I was at Newcastle and Feyenoord. I was given a tour of all the facilities earlier this morning. it was nothing special, certainly no Berneabeau, Wembley, or Allianz. Later on was the first training session. The boys started with simple jogs and stretches, but the real training began with some simple keep away drills 5 players per side, 5 teams on the pitch. The boys had the whole half to retain possession of the ball. This drill was just meant to help show me who needed help with their game. The team with the blue pinnies kept the ball for a while, and it was clear the tackling ability of the team was horrendous. Moritz Leitner, A guy with funny hair, was probably the best passer on the team. I was confident he'd be the cog in the team, but the assistant informed that he was on loan from Dortmund. Dortmund, no wonder he had weird hair. The second part of training was finishing. The defense lined up to the right of the net, and the attackers lined up about 15 yards outside of the box. I'd feed a ball to one of the attackers, and they had to do whatever they could to score. It was a simple drill, but some players couldn't out the ball in the back of the net if they're life depended on it. \Yes, I'm talking to you Cacau. However, Vedad Ibesivic, and the wingers who were more talented with the ball sliced through the defenders like the defenders were no more than a stick of butter. Ibsevic got 7 chances to score. He got by his man and finished 6 out of those 7 times. not a terrible total if you ask me. By now, it was clear that the defense needed polishing in the worst way. We had 4 million pounds to spend, plus sales money. The money would definitely be invested in the defensive side of this team. If we were to push for Europe again, we would need a solid defense. At the end of the training session, I went to chat with the coaches about what they thought on the team's tactics. They recommended a 4-2-3-1, but I wanted to try out a 4-5-1, my formation of choice. Our first competitive match was against Bayern in the German Super Cup, some challenge. I would love to say I was confident of a result, but I can't say that. Bayern has too much class for us right now, but soon, we'd be fighting Bayern for the same spot they occupied last year, 1st place.
1
