After this season’s break for the World Cup, the Werder players currently find themselves in their last week of training before another break, this time for the holidays. “It is definitely a very particular situation. It is incredibly important for us that we prepare well for the second half of the season,” said Werder's head of Scouting & Professional Football to the media on Tuesday morning.
The former Werder captain looked back positively on the course of the season until now: “I think you can see that we are in the position to hold our own in this league when we turn up from the first minute and have a certain aggression. This is something that should give us confidence and self-belief.” Nevertheless, the players won’t be able to keep their feet up for the entirety of the upcoming break. “The boys will get a training plan. It is important for us to take a focussed approach to this break, with the mindset that with this is an absolutely crucial bit of preparation looking ahead to the training camp and start of the second half of the season,” said Fritz.
In addition to the return to the training pitch and fixtures in January, the transfer window is also open once again. Fritz suggested the World Cup break might also make an impact here. “It is already the case that representatives are getting in touch to offer players who were involved at the World Cup but perhaps were not on your radar before the tournament. So, it feels like there could be a bit more movement than in previous years. I think here and there clubs will take advantage of this if they have to react to something in the short term.
The question of whether SVW will be among these clubs was left open by Werder’s Head of Scouting & Professional Football. Despite the departure of Benjamin Goller to 1. FC Nürnberg, he sees no current necessity to bring players in. “I think that are middling in terms of the depth of our squad. After Benni’s departure, we are not going to fill the squad again,” said the 42-year-old, before continuing: “It is important that we keep the quality high in training. We also know that we don’t have an enormous squad and there isn’t so much room to play with.”
All in all, Fritz emphasised that SVW have a well-balanced squad, as well as in its age profile. “Like before, we have a relatively young squad but one with experience as well. It is also important to have a few experienced players in the team because there are certain situations, where that can be the decisive factor. Especially when it is not going as well, it can have a calming effort on the young players.”
