Neestrup reflects on focus in Austria training camp
In many ways it has been business as usual for F.C. Copenhagen head coach Jacob Neestrup as his players get put through their paces in pre-season training at their camp in Scheffau am Wilden Kaiser, Austria.
It has been the summer base for FCK for each of the past two years. However, the focus this summer has been a little different.
"Last year, a number of players had just left us and the new players had started to arrive when we were down here in Austria," says Neestrup.
"But this year, the squad from last season is largely intact, after we also got Lopez and Hatzidiakos sorted out, so we can and must get back to the level we were at during the Championship Round in the spring.
"But of course we also have to integrate the new young players – Sarapata, Zague and most recently Moukoko. But the continuity is greater this year, and our focus is therefore a little different.
"This also affects what we do with our training exercises, because during the winter training camp in Spain we spent a lot of time on our early build-up play, and now we are now prioritising what we finished well with in the spring.
"That is, our breakthrough play down the flanks, our ability to quickly turn the game from one side to the other and go for a breakthrough, or not to change sides but to stay on the same side and continue from there.
"We saw that, for example, when we scored the first in Viborg in the cup, with the second goal in Randers and the second goal against Silkeborg, where we combined on the flanks and moved the game the opposite way or stayed on the same side and went for a breakthrough. And then we also focus on our counter-pressing and pressing intensity.
"We are also still practising our early build-up play, but the players encounter the second one every day down here in one way or another."
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