FCB - General Talk

[BlackNess]

very good shooting ability there by Altintop !!!

[BlackNess]

Originally Posted by ScaryJeff

The game's live on sopcast channel 9873. go bayern !

yes i am watching it there !!

by the way .. Welcome to our forum enjoy your staying

[lionel]

what minute is it?
how's the game? worrths the watch??

[Podolski]

update pls!

[Frank75]

3-0

It's probably around the 70th minute. I'm not sure as my sopcast channel is now offline.

Ze Roberto and Toni with goals in the 1st half.

Ze Roberto scored on a free kick just outside the box off a deflection from a defender.

Toni scored with a curler inside the post off a great steal from Klose who chased down the defender and then passed back to Toni who was unmarked and one-timed it.

Klose in the 2nd. Toni found Ribery on the run and he crossed to it Klose who tapped it in. Some nice teamwork from the new stars

[Podolski]

Good to see

What score was expected? I don't know much about their opponents, how good they are etc. Should they be winning 10-nil or is this a good score against Schaffhausen?

[Frank75]

I don't think 10-0 or a huge win was expected.

Schlaffhausen finished 10th last season in the 1st division of Swiss football and was relegated.

[Frank75]

Just read an update that said it's now 4-0. Toni scored his 2nd.

[Frank75]

Full Time: 4-0

[BlackNess]

FT Schaffhausen 0 - 4 Bayern Munich

[Trim]

The mood at Bayern’s summer training camp could hardly be better. Despite six sometimes energy-sapping workout since Monday morning, the players have been smiling and chatting away before, during and after the sessions. Getting to know each other and communicating with the new signings is a key priority at the Oschberghof hotel in the picture-postcard surroundings of Donaueschingen.

“You sense there’s plenty of life in the team,” Miroslav Klose remarked after the Wednesday morning session. “There’s no doubt about our desire. This team is determined to succeed. You feel it every time we train. It’s very, very positive.” There were no problems whatsoever with the lack of a common language at the present time, the new signing reported. “We use player talk,” Klose intimated, “whatever comes to hand.”

Quality on the ground and in the air

He and new strike partner Luca Toni were already further down the track in terms of understanding, the Germany hitman advised. “We’ve not called on each other privately yet, but it’s already pretty good out on the field,” Klose observed. “We’re working it out using a bit of English. We know what we have to do.”

Four weeks ahead of the Bundesliga restart, Klose is confident of striking up a productive partnership with the giant Italian. “I reckon we’ll complement each other very, very well,” the 29-year-old declared, full of admiration for his new team-mate: “He’s real quality, on the floor and in the air.”

Shortage of time

The World Cup winner was quick to return the compliment. “Miro’s a great player. We’re talking to each other in English. The important thing is an understanding on the field, and earning success together.” However, Toni emphasised, there was “not much time” until the opening match against Hansa Rostock on 11 August. “I hope it’s enough.”

“We need the entire team to hit form, not just Klose and me,” Luca continued. Toni is proving a stickler for placing the interests of the collective above those of any individual, as when he was asked how many goals he was aiming to score. “I’ll try and score as many as I can, or assist in goals being scored,” he replied, “but what matters is victory for Bayern.”

Three trophies and a big TV

Klose, the leading scorer at last summer’s World Cup, set somewhat more precise goals for the new campaign: “The absolute priority is to win at least one trophy, although if we have the opportunity, I’d obviously like us to win all three.” The pre-season League Cup, which sees Klose meet his former club Werder Bremen on 21 July, is not included in the calculation. “In the League Cup, the aim is to win, play with confidence, and earn some initial respect.”

Klose and Toni come across as very different personalities, but they do share one thing in common: some two weeks after arriving in Bavaria, bothare still looking for accommodation. “I haven’t found what I want yet,” Klose confirmed, “but there are plenty of places I’d be able to live.”

Klose will settle out of town, but Toni intends to live in the heart of the city, although the choice of apartment is the sole responsibility of his partner Marta Cecchetto, due in Munich next week. “She’ll be taking the decision,” the big man confirmed, naming his solitary mandatory when it comes to interior décor: “It has to have a big TV.”

[Trim]

Donaueschingen is currently playing host to a “new” Bayern Munich, featuring eight new signings to replace the seven players who left the club last month. Head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld’s staff is also packed with new faces, as state-of-the-art fitness and conditioning take an ever more prominent role.

“The new coaching team is a breath of fresh air for the club. It's very enjoyable to watch, because there are many new and different ideas,” manager Uli Hoeneß declared approvingly after watching the team behind the team at work. “I have a very good feeling. We'll be well prepared for the new season.”

Going to the limit

Sports scientist Riccardo Proietti “will help us optimise our training programme,” Hitzfeld explained. The 39-year-old Italian is conducting a series of tests to determine each player’s current fitness level, “which is valuable in helping us set the intensity in training,” Hitzfeld continued. The tests will also establish “which players have gone to the limit, and how much work they can get through on other days.”

The next new face is that of Zvonko Komes, an experienced fitness coach who has also worked for Liverpool, Ajax of Amsterdam and Swiss outfit FC Lucerne. The 48-year-old Croat’s main task is injury prevention. “We’re liaising very closely on the subject,” commented assistant coach Michael Henke, who operated together with Komes in Kaiserslautern.

Reducing the risk of injury

Henke and Hitzfeld are informing Komes of their plans for the days ahead, so he can prepare the players for the specific physical demands with tailored exercise routines, thus reducing the risk of injury. “I’m very satisfied with what he’s doing. I have total faith in his methods, he’s the perfect man for the job,” the boss observed.

The third newly-recruited staffer is Thomas Wilhelmi, a qualified sports instructor from Rosenheim whose association with the club dates back to February this year, and who is primarily concerned with the injured and convalescent players in Donaueschingen. Working closely with the club’s medical unit, Wilhelmi will supervise the players recovering from injury and help them return to the full team training schedule as smoothly as possible.

Players welcome changes

The new coaching trio are managing a major stride towards more personalised training, an increasingly important aspect in sports fitness. “Training was certainly different when I started back in 1983,” Hitzfeld reflected, “there have been more than a few changes in the last 20 years.“ Added Henke: “What counts is everyone having the same philosophy.”

So far, the players have proved receptive to the new methods and concepts. “I’m aware of it from Italy, a lot of teams are training like this,” remarked Luca Toni, “I think personalised training is very important.” That opinion is shared by Mark van Bommel: “I think it’s not bad at all. Each individual has different needs,” the Dutch enforcer summarised.

[Trim]

Six days of the Donaueschingen training camp have begun to leave their mark on the Bayern pros. After 13 individual sessions and a friendly away to Swiss second division outfit FC Schaffhausen, one or two of the players have rather begun dragging their weary bodies through the lobby of the Öschberghof team hotel, betraying the typically punishing nature of the fitness camp.

But the week in the Black Forest has had implications beyond the purely physical. Three weeks ahead of the German Cup first round trip to Wacker Burghausen, and four in advance of the Bundesliga opener at home to Hansa Rostock, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld's preferred starting formation has begun to take on concrete shape.

Movement as a unit

The General has assembled his potential first-choice team in training for a series of intensive coaching sessions designed to harmonise the activities in different areas of the field. Movement as a unit from one side to the other, a high-tempo pressing game and closing down space – all initially without the ball, as the players learn their zonal and collective responsibilities within the master tactical plan.

Hitzfeld frequently intervenes to convey new instructions, make corrections and hand out advice. Ever since the 58-year-old began working with the club's new coaching staff, he has had more time to focus on strategy and tactics, an opportunity he is clearly using to the full.

Pressure down the flanks

The process has been helped by Lucio and Marcell Jansen's return from injury and ability to take part in the full team programme. Together with Philipp Lahm and Martin Demichelis, the pair currently form the defensive line in front of Oliver Kahn. A primary task is to establish a more solid defensive platform than last season, when Bayern finished with an unsatisfactory 40 goals against.

The favoured midfield formation currently features José Ernesto Sosa (right) and Franck Ribéry (left) on the flanks. "We want to apply pressure down the wings," Hitzfeld revealed. The variant includes two holding midfielders, where Mark van Bommel and Zé Roberto appear to be the front-runners. "We want to create a more solid platform through the middle, and keep it tighter than we did last season," observed Hitzfeld, who has the supremely versatile Hamit Altintop up his sleeve as another candidate for a midfield berth.

Vertical gameplan

The twin striking roles are certain to go to the "dream duo" of Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni, already christened 'Kloni' by the tabloids. Both will either feed off crosses from the wings or high-speed deliveries on the ground from the centre of the park. "We're emphasising the benefits of a vertical gameplan," Hitzfeld commented.

The training camp concludes with one further session and a friendly against FC 07 Albstadt on Sunday. A tough-looking warm-up match against relegated Bundesliga outfit Borussia Mönchengladbach follows on Wednesday, before Hitzfeld's men take on Werder Bremen in the League Cup on Saturday 21 July, a first competitive indication of whether the intense tactical efforts of recent days have borne fruit.

[Trim]

There were a few spare seats on the Bayern team bus when the vehicle left the Öschberghof hotel for the practice ground at the Anton-Mall stadium on Saturday afternoon. A spate of minor injuries meant that no fewer than five of the senior squad were obliged to sit out the penultimate session of this summer's training camp in Donaueschingen.

One of them was star signing Franck Ribery, as the Frenchman was left nursing a bruised thigh after the morning workout. Youngsters Christian Lell and Stephan Fürstner were ruled out with similar problems in the calf area.

Not unexpected

Hamit Altintop sat out the session with a painful knee, while Mark van Bommel had already scaled back his efforts on Friday after feeling a twinge from his Achilles. "In every case, it's a result of the demanding training programme of the last few days," assistant coach Michael Henke informed fcbayern.de. The quintet reported to fitness coach Thomas Wilhelmi for a minimal workout at the hotel in the afternoon.

None of the five was carrying a more serious injury, Henke confirmed, although it remains a possibility that the players will be rested for Sunday's friendly in Albstadt as a precaution. Van Bommel is rated the most serious doubt of the group. A decision regarding the Dutchman and the remaining injured players will be left until Sunday morning. Head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld and his staff will certainly be unwilling to take any risks at this embryonic stage of the campaign.

[Trim]

Not good news, hope they recover rapidly.