Preparation for the 2023/24 Bundesliga season is coming to an end. On Saturday, 5th August, RC Strasbourg lie in wait as a dress rehearsal for SV Werder (15:30 and 18:30 CEST). After training on Thursday, central defender Niklas Stark answered journalists’ questions in the Mixed Zone.
With two of his defensive colleagues, Marco Friedl and Milos Veljkovic, having suffered injuries during pre-season, as well as Amos Pieper having undergone surgery on his ankle shortly before the summer break, Niklas Stark is pleased to currently be injury-free. “Obviously it’s not ideal that we weren’t together on the training pitch, but the lads are still fully concentrated during their time out and have watched everything. I hope that we’ll have everyone back on board for the competitive games,” said Stark at today’s media session.
Last season, the 28-year-old needed something of an adjustment period before finding his place in manager Ole Werner’s eleven. On the one hand, Stark had newly come from the capital to the Weser, while on the other hand, the back-three was new to the Franconia native. “For me it was important to stick at it and keep learning – then I worked my way into the team and everything went well,” explains Stark, who has started the last eleven league games. “I’m pleased that I won’t have this adjustment period this year."
At the friendly tournament in Innsbruck against Leipzig and Ipswich Town, Werder tried out a new system. The flexibility should make the Green-Whites more versatile and could be important for the Bundesliga season. Overall, the current conclusion that Stark has drawn after four weeks is also very positive. “We can be quite satisfied at the moment because we have some good friendly games behind us,” explains Werder’s number 4, who found Leipzig to be their toughest opponent. “We have seen for ourselves what we still have to work on. We’re in a good place and in good time to be 100% against Viktoria Köln and Bayern.”
