“We want control” | OneFootball

Albert Riera on team news, his upcoming home debut against Gladbach and preparations for the game at Deutsche Bank Park.

Eintracht Frankfurt’s new head coach will make his home debut on Saturday afternoon when the Eagles take on Borussia Mönchengladbach (kick-off 15:30 CET).At his pre-match press conference, Albert Riera spoke about...

… team news: “After our game in Berlin last week, Jonny Burkardt trained really well on Saturday and was close to making his comeback, but then he fell ill and has to sit this one out. We don’t want to take any risks so we’ll rest him on Saturday. Arthur Theate is out, Oscar Højlund is suspended and Can Uzun, Younes Ebnoutalib and Michy Batshuayi are also absent through injury. Farès Chaibi has a slight knock, so we’ll see how he’s feeling on the day of the game.”

… Arthur Theate: “Losing him is a big blow. It happened in training when he went in for a routine tackle. It didn’t look too bad at first, but he felt something when he stood up. Fortunately it’s not as bad as it could have been, but he’ll still be sidelined for a few weeks. He’ll work hard to come back as soon as possible because we’ve got a lot of nice moments coming up.”

… how things stand: “I was left with a good feeling after our final training session. We gave the players our game plan and all the information they need. Now it’s up to them to show their qualities. They know what they need to do both with and without the ball, and how we can win back possession. That’s very important. We want to play in a dominant way and show a good playing style, which is what Eintracht deserve.” 

… this week in training: “The players are taking the philosophy on board. We’re giving them solutions. We started with the defensive part because we have to avoid conceding goals. That’s the only way we can win games. After that, we showed them what we want to do with the ball: Plan A, B and C. Set pieces are also very important as they make up approximately 30 percent of the game.”

… Eintracht’s approach: “We won’t just be a counter-attacking team on my watch. We won’t let the opposition transition quickly – we want control. When we attack, we need to make sure we’re not leaving ourselves exposed to counters if we lose the ball. We need to be top-class in defence. Everyone needs to know what to do when we lose possession, as that way you can regain control quickly. We’ll create a lot of chances with the way we want to play football.”

… his home debut: “I know what this stadium can give us. I told my players that we have fantastic fans and a fantastic stadium, but that we need to give the fans energy. It’s up to us and it’s in our hands. The players will be full of energy and passion, that’s very important. We’ve got an extra man with our fans behind us.”