#VamosWerkself – Day eight: Mystery of the lost balls

Following yesterday’s double matchday, Peter Bosz led the final session at the training camp in La Manga after breakfast. At ten in the morning, the players initially completed a few relaxed runs on the pitch; and the following drills were all aimed at helping recovery. Kerem Demirbay, Nadiem Amiri and Co. did stretches and played a few balls for 30 minutes and then that was it. With the bags packed, it was back to the hotel for lunch before the whole Bayer 04 group boarded the coach for the airport in Murcia. After a three-hour flight, the Werkself landed safely at Cologne/Bonn Airport and travelled on to Leverkusen by coach.

The itinerary for the coming week: there is no training on Sunday or Monday; preparations for the first game in the second half of the season start on Tuesday. Peter Bosz takes his team to SC Paderborn on Sunday 19 January. The kick-off is at 18.00 CET.

Ten balls go missing

The team bus set off from La Manga last night – and was full of luggage. A total of 35 metal containers full of equipment for the training camp were taken away; they contained three sets of kit, three training kits for each player and 90 pairs of football boots. As well as 120 bibs, 15 hurdles, 10 mannequins and numerous cones, poles and markers that were brought to La Manga. Of the original 50 balls, only 40 made it onto the return journey to Germany, revealed kit man Martin Kowatzki. What happened to the missing ten balls is a mystery.

“Want to move up the table”

“My assessment of the past few days is very positive. We trained well on a great pitch. I had time to talk to each individual player. It was a very good training camp overall,” head coach Peter Bosz said in a final interview with Bayer 04 TV. However, with a week to go before the start of the second half of the season, the Dutchman believes his players still have room for improvement.

Coach interview on Bayer 04 TV

“We shouldn’t have conceded six goals in the friendlies. We need to be better organised. We have to improve overall – and we can do it too! We are sixth in the Bundesliga and we want to move up the table. It’s all about winning games,” Bosz said in a lengthy interview on Bayer 04 TV.