“Take more risks with the final ball” | OneFootball

At the pre-match press conference, Albert Riera discussed team news, the opposition and being brave in the final third.

After last week’s goalless draw at FC St. Pauli, Eintracht Frankfurt host 1. FC Heidenheim at Deutsche Bank Park on Saturday 14 March (kick-off 15:30 CET).

At the press conference ahead of the Bundesliga Matchday 26 encounter, head coach Albert Riera spoke about …… his squad: “I’m not going to reveal my starting line-up, but there will be a little surprise. You always make adjustments, and so do the opposition. But fundamentally, the 20 players in the squad won’t change.”

… team news: “Can Uzun and Younes Ebnoutalib aren’t in the squad, but they’re close to making their comebacks.”

… Eintracht’s attacking approach: “We have to be more direct. We’ve been working on that. It’s not easy but I said to the players that I don’t want anyone to be afraid of losing the ball in the final third. We’re in good form and our defensive positioning is good when we lose possession, so that’s why I want us to take more risks with the final ball.”

… Heidenheim: “We’re not the only team in Europe that has trouble against deep-lying opponents. That’s how I’m expecting Heidenheim to play, to wait for mistakes and then break forward. We’ve talked about that. We’ve trained for three different approaches. For example, our strikers need to occupy the defenders so that players arriving from deep can find the spaces. And crosses are another tool at our disposal.”

… the strikers: “Arnaud Kalimuendo didn’t have much of an impact against St. Pauli, but that wasn’t because of his position but because of the way we played collectively. We didn’t give our forwards, Arnaud and Jonny Burkardt, enough service. Arnaud is quick but he needs balls in behind the defence. If they don’t materialise, then it doesn’t matter who plays on the wing. You could see against Bayern that it works.”

… the midfield: “It’s like being a chef – you need good ingredients to cook well. I’m in the fortunate position to have lots of ingredients in midfield, so I have to make the right choice. That might be Oscar Højlund as a box-to-box player, or Hugo Larsson in a more holding role. It’s my responsibility to field players like Oscar in such a way that they can showcase their strengths. But regardless of who starts this game, the players on the bench aren’t there because they didn’t play well, but because others are better suited to a particular opponent.”