"We need the physicality for the spring"

Name: FK Austria Wien
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Manfred Schmid starts preparing for the spring season with his team today. "I'm really looking forward to meeting my coaching team and the players," said the head coach, who was also able to use the winter break to recharge his batteries.

GEPA pictures

Schmid spent a few days in Cologne before Christmas Eve. "We made many dear friends during our time in Germany. We visited them, and then we went back to Austria", where he was able to celebrate Christmas at home with his family for the first time in eight years. "We enjoyed it", he smiles.

Today and tomorrow, the medical and sports tests are on the agenda for the players. In each case in groups of two, the complete test battery will be run through.

"Whereby I am most interested in the lactate values, because then we can design our units in preparation", says Schmid, who will train with the players on grass for the first time on Wednesday.

"We had very good values in the tests just before the winter break, so I expect that we can now quickly get into the technical and tactical focus."

The team will train twice a day, doing as many sessions as possible with the ball. "We will lay the foundations in the coming weeks. We need the physicality for the spring, have a very crucial phase ahead of us now."

Saturday will be the first test. Due to the current Corona situation still without spectators, opponent is SC Mannswörth.