Gearing up for Hoffenheim | OneFootball

There were 28 players on board at the Deutsche Bank Park training pitches as Eintracht began preparations for their first away league game of the season.

“We need to have a good week in training so that we can feel well prepared for the game against Hoffenheim,” stated head coach Dino Toppmöller following the Eagles’ opening victory over Bremen. After giving his squad the day off on Monday, 28 players were involved on Tuesday as they geared up for the trip to Hoffenheim on Saturday 30 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST).

Jens Grahl, Kaua Santos, Amil Siljevic, Michael Zetterer and 24 outfield players completed an intensive session, while Jessic Ngankam continued his rehabilitation programme. “Give it everything you’ve got,” said conditioning coach Thomas Pitzke as he put the players through their paces with sprinting drills.

That was followed by equally intensive small-sided games as the players were split onto two mini pitches, each with three teams of four and one instruction: never give up. Rasmus Kristensen was living proof of this with a sliding block on the line of one of the mini goals, while “press”, shouted in English, was the buzzword throughout this exercise.

The next drill required speed of thought and action, as well as quality on the ball, in eight-vs-three exercises of 45 seconds, this time with full-sized goals and goalkeepers. The second group of players were given more space to work in at the other end of the training pitches, but the principle remained the same. That was followed by other game variations.

All of these attributes contributed to Eintracht collecting their first three points of 2025/26 last weekend. “There’s always room to improve something after a match,” said Ansgar Knauff following the win against Bremen. “Nevertheless, we came out full of energy, got the fans behind us, played attacking football, pressed high, scored four goals and picked up our first three points. We need to build on that and keep going next week."

As such, full focus is now on the upcoming meeting with Hoffenheim, who beat Bayer Leverkusen away on Matchday 1.