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Preparation plan without blueprint | Kickers Offenbach

Offenbach – The professionals of the Offenbach Kickers will train until Friday, when a season that is exceptional in many respects is finally history. After the end of the season due to the corona pandemic, there is planning certainty.
          BY JÖRG MOLL

The concept for the new season, which is to begin on the first weekend in September, will not be easy for everyone involved.

Firstly, because a mammoth season with up to 23 teams is on the cards. That would be the case if, in addition to SG Sonnenhof Großaspach, 1. FC Kaiserslautern also relegated from the 3rd league to the 18 remaining regional leagues and the four promoters. From September to May there would then be 44 point games. “Wow, so many English weeks – I’m excited to see how it works,” OFC coach Angelo Barletta looks ahead. Thomas Sobotzik doesn’t like this league size. “I can hardly imagine how clubs with semi-professional structures want to go to Ulm or Balingen for games every Wednesday,” says the Kickers managing director.

His colleague from FSV Frankfurt, Patrick Spengler, is similarly critical: “Increasing the league to maybe up to 23 teams presents us with an additional challenge in view of the additional costs.” Thomas Brendel, sports director and head coach of the Bornheim team, therefore promptly demands a framework plan from the Regionalliga Südwest GbR.

Angelo Barletta ticked eighth place in the league relatively sober. “The situation in the table is of course unsatisfactory, but I would have loved to see how my team would have developed.” Until the corona-related forced break in mid-March, the OFC had worked its way up to eighth. “It was canceled when we slowly got where we wanted to go,” said Sobotzik.

Sporty unsatisfactory – and not yet financially assessable, so the OFC managing director summed up the situation yesterday. He wants to wait for further talks with partners and sponsors to complete the inventory. “We hope to accommodate in a situation for which we couldn’t do anything.” The signal from the fans was clear. “They even asked us to provide another reason for a ghost game, which is why we are continuing to offer ghost tickets in consultation with Bayer Leverkusen,” Sobotzik praised the fans’ willingness to donate. The reaction of season ticket holders is said to be similarly positive.

The manager will now continue to tinker with the team composition for the new season with coach Barletta. The profile of the entrances is clear. “We are looking for hungry players who want to get to the top with or above us,” Sobotzik explains: “The goal must be that we have a team that is competitive in the race for first place. We weren’t that last season. ”

Sobotzik is not yet talking about who will be added. It is certain that full-back Marco Fritscher (Schweinfurt 05) will come to the OFC. A candidate for the outside track could be Francesco Calabrese (23), who has announced his departure from Bayern Alzenau.

Angelo Barletta will have to reschedule the squad size. “I actually wanted to start the season with the previous league size with 20 field players and three goalkeepers, now we will need more players.” To control the loads, there could be 24 field players, plus three to four goalkeepers. Center-back Lucas Albrecht and attacker Moritz Reinhard should have a future at OFC. Yesterday evening the association announced the termination of the contract with Richard Weil. Full-back Marco Schikora is unlikely to receive a new offer.

The transfer event will be a marathon this year. Sobotzik expects many new options after the end of the 3rd division on July 5. “Of course we want to have a large part of the squad together at the start of the preparation, but we also don’t let ourselves be rushed,” he emphasizes.

The corona pandemic has not only shaken up the canceled season, it also ensures that the preparation for coaches becomes a business game without a blueprint. Barletta sends the players, who will continue to appear for the OFC, three weeks on vacation. On June 22nd he asked for the first of three preparatory blocks. After one week of training, there is a nine to ten day break. “I’m not a friend of sending the players away for eight weeks,” says Barletta. The danger is that the close line on which the OFC coach swears so is lost. And Barletta and Sobotzik would like to delete from the vocabulary.

Source: op-online.de

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