Fabian Hurzeler reflects on a successful training camp

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The head coach was pleased with his side's intensity and resilience in Saturday's win over Strasbourg.

2026-08-01T18:20+01:00

Head coach Fabian Hurzeler shouts instructions to his players during the win over Strasbourg. 📷James Boardman

How did you assess the Strasbourg performance …

I think in the first minutes we took it a little bit too easy. I think we had the first action of the game where we played 20 passes, 25 passes. We almost finished with a goal, and then I thought the players had the mindset, Oh, this will be an easy game'.

And I think we weren't that intense, but after we were 2-0 down they showed resilience, they reacted well and they played with much more intensity.

I think in possession we were good. Out of possession, we definitely have to improve the little details, but we scored set-piece goals. We showed resilience. It was a good test in the end.

The set-piece threat must have pleased you …

I think it’s very important that we are strong with set-pieces. But overall, of course, we want to have our identity as well on the pitch, and that's playing intense football. And I think we missed intensity in the first minutes, and then afterwards it was better.

20 Malik Yalcouye celebrates with goal scorer Ibrahim Osman after his penalty

In possession we played well. I think we controlled the game. We played some good football, but we have to be good in every phase of the game, and we managed it after going down 2-0.

What are your overall reflections on the camp and what lies ahead next week?

My message to the boys is ‘keep working hard’. I think that's the main bit. I was really pleased with the week, how they worked. Today was really very intense, very warm.

They suffered, but they suffered together, and I think it’s very important that they showed this resilience as a team. And next week we continue. I think we built a good foundation this week. We keep building on this foundation we created and focusing on small details to make things better than today. And then we have another great opportunity against Roma at the Amex next Saturday to make the next step.

And there are still some players to come back …

We had a lot of good players on the stands, so that's why I think on the one side was a really good camp because we integrated new players. The injured players came back towards the team, so that looks good and we also have some good players at home at the training ground. We seem to be in a good place.

We know that it's still hard work. We have to stay humble, grounded, keep working hard, and then make the next step as a team. Stefanos Tzimas and Evan Ferguson are in rehab, Stef is the closest but Ferguson is making daily progress and (Kaoru) Mitoma has come back now from Japan where he started his rehab.