Diary: Detailed Work

“Meticulous” is a word that Paul Fernie likes to use when describing Florian Kohfeldt. Because if the Lilien head coach tackles something or wants to implement something, then there is only the complete package. No half measures. Ideas, game principles – Kohfeldt explains these things very thoroughly to his team; certain processes are rehearsed over and over again until the team achieves a high level of security in this structure. The training camp session on Monday offered a good example of the precise work of the 42-year-old and his coaching team.

The training started at 10:30am with a detailed activation, and the session on the grass ended more than two hours later. „The session was long, but at the same time tough. After a long warm-up, we went into the playful and tactical things and worked on details. At the end there was a final game,“ said Kai Klefisch, summarising what happened on the field beforehand was. Just detailed work. At 11 against 0, the Lilies kept going through their routines, carefully coached by Kohfeldt, whose voice always found its way through the gusts of wind blowing in from the beach. In the following 8 against 8 game, many of the previously rehearsed processes were recognisable; the players were always looking for determined offensive solutions. “It can continue like this,” explained Klefisch with a smile, the progress of the pleasant weeks is visible and at the same time ensures that the Lilies remain willing to learn and inquisitive and also complete one or two mammoth units with a lot of enthusiasm.

Part 2 of the detailed work followed in the afternoon. This time, however, not on the field, but in the meeting room in the basement of the “Parador de El Saler”. An extensive internal tactical analysis was on the agenda.

„We want to continue to work on our principles and the way we play football. The more often you train something, the more natural it becomes on match day itself. We have already made a lot of progress in the last few weeks and we want to build on that,“ said Fraser Hornby. The goals for the ongoing training camp were described before training in the morning. The contents of the following hours were perfect evidence for the attacker’s statement.

You can find the complete interview with the 25-year-old on our YouTube channel here.

At 7am the Lilien entourage made up of the coaching team, players and staff set off from the Merck Stadium to Frankfurt Airport. The Lufthansa flight LH 1160 took off from there shortly after 10am towards Valencia. The plane took off in light snowfall and temperatures around freezing point, and landed almost two hours later at a pleasant 19 degrees. A change that was also perceived with goodwill by the players, as Clemens Riedel explained on behalf of them: „When I looked out of the window, I was surprised to see that there was snow. It’s even nicer to be able to train here with the sun and the sea“

At 1:15pm, the South Hessians entered the lobby of the „Parador de El Saler“ and immediately gathered for lunch before the tour group moved into their rooms. As soon as we were set up, we went to the training ground for the first time. Fitness and some tactical procedures were on the agenda, then a check mark could be made on the first day.

As with previous visits, this January the Lilies will once again find optimal conditions for good preparation for the second half of the season. “The facility is very quiet, we are among ourselves, the place is right next to the hotel, the conditions are great,” summarised Riedel.

There are eight training sessions scheduled, plus the friendly match on Saturday (January 11th) against Swiss first division club FC St. Gallen.

In addition to the injured Paul Will, Matthias Bader and Isac Lidberg, the training camp also comes too early for Christoph Zimmermann. Fabian Holland is missing due to illness. Klaus Gjasula is not currently in training camp, but is holding talks with another club at his own request.