We have to maintain a good physical level

We have asked head coach Brian Priske a few questions before the beginning of the winter training session about his plans for this period. You can read his answers in the article below.

How did you spend the few days off?
At home in Denmark with my family. It's been a long time ago since I've been home more than just two or three days, so it was nice to have more than 10 days together with the family, seeing my children, wife, and my parents as well. So it's been a couple of good days in Denmark with family and friends.

What is the plan for these days?
The whole purpose of these three weeks is to maintain a good physical level. Since we came in the summer, we've been working really hard on the physical level, we have pushed the players a lot and we raised a certain level, that I'm quite happy with. So, we need to make sure that we maintain it because we have in January only three and a half weeks from when we meet after the new year until the first game against Olomouc, so we have to maintain a good level physically. We also have to get some of the injured players fit and get them back in training on the pitch. We had too many injuries at the end of the first part of the season, so we need to get them fixed again.  The plan is to train at a decent level physically and tactically, and also of course enjoy a little bit the time together without any pressure.  There are no games at this period that really matters, so the plan is to spend three weeks like this and hopefully get all the players fit.

Do you have high expectations before the testing session on Monday?
I'm not sure because the testing we will do on Monday is a different capacity than the one we did in June, which was focused on football things. Of course, there will be some physical testing that has positive value for us and I expect the numbers to be better for sure, but also I don't expect to be such a big difference because it's mainly aerobic. I expect that the testing in January will be better than the one we did in June so we will have to wait and see. As I said, it is a good possibility to measure the progress, that we have made in some aspects and I know for sure that the jump tests, for example, will be better than the ones we did in June. So it is a good possibility for us to see where the players are. 

Will any new faces from the academy join you in training?
Yes. For this part, we will take Kukučka, Goljan and Kaštánek. Then we will wait and see if maybe a few of the others will join us as well. I also watch some of the U19 team players, there is a possibility for them to join us. Probably not in December, but maybe for the training camp in Spain.

Later in December, We will play against Žilina and Vansdorf. What is the purpose of these matches?
Mainly physical. The primary is the physical aspect of getting some games instead of just training here. Of course, we will see where we are tactically as well before we go on the break, but the physical aspect is the main. It will be 45 minutes for all the players, so we get a lot of game minutes into the players before they will go thirteen days off.