Europa League winner Frankfurt wants to remain on the road to success in 2023 - get ahead in the DFB Cup and in the premier class and stay at the top of the Bundesliga.
Eintracht Frankfurt (dpa/lhe) - Good mood, ambitious goals: Oliver Glasner was in the best of spirits after the first team training session with Eintracht Frankfurt and recovered from a skiing holiday in his Austrian homeland. "The lads were already in a good mood in the dressing room. It felt good to relax," said the 48-year-old on Tuesday after the start of the new football year. "Every time you start, it's always a challenge," said the coach of the Bundesliga table fourth and Europa League winner. "My goal is: We don't continue as it was, we want to get better."
There couldn't be a better opportunity to prove that than in the second half of the season. The Hessians want to arm themselves before falling from sixth place to 15th place after the second half of the season, as they did last season. FC Schalke 04 is the first opponent in the Bundesliga on January 21st. In addition, Frankfurt want to progress in the round of 16 in the DFB Cup against Darmstadt 98 (February 7) and in the Champions League against SSC Naples (February 21/March 5). Glasner put it this way: "Anyone who knows us knows that we strive for the best possible success everywhere."
The German World Cup players Kevin Trapp and Mario Götze as well as the French whiz kid and Vice World Champion Randal Kolo Muani were also present at the start of training. The Japanese national player Daichi Kamada was absent from Deutsche Bank Park: He can travel directly to the training camp in Dubai. Why wasn't ex-world champion Götze, who was also on vacation in Dubai, allowed to stay there? Glasner explained mischievously: "Japan made it through the World Cup, Germany didn't."
Glasner also commented calmly on the report that Eintracht keeper Trapp, according to information from “Bild”, should belong to the possible group of candidates as a replacement for the injured national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. "If I get angry about what I notice every day, I would be in a bad mood. I'm pretty relaxed and see it as amusement," said the Austrian.
In general, there are no worries that players will leave the club during the winter break. "We don't want to give up any top performers. And we got the signals from them that they would stay and definitely play the second half of the season with us," emphasized Glasner, looking at the internationally sought-after Kamada and Evan Ndicka and also after his World Cup appearance in Qatar Kolo Muani.
That's why everyone will be there when we go to the training camp in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, where intensive preparation is only just beginning until January 14th. This also includes Sebastian Rode and Ansgar Knauff, who were injured more often in the past year. The Brazilian Tuta does not get into preparation until the afternoon because he still had a driver's license test in his home country on Monday - and according to the club he passed it.
Dubai will also work to minimize the clean sheet rate (24) and weakness in set pieces. However, the statisticians have put Glasner's "subjective view" of the defense deficits into perspective. "We're among the top five in the Bundesliga in almost every parameter - with the exception of goals conceded and set pieces," said the coach.
