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Pre-match report

DFB Cup

Favre "ready" for Fürth, warns it's "not an easy ride"

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"Pre-season is over. It was a good pre-season," reflected Lucien Favre. After six weeks of intense training, in which "we worked well, often with two sessions per day", the new campaign will kick off on Monday (20:45 CET, live on ARD) with a DFB Cup trip to Fürth.

"It's not an easy ride to be drawn against a second-tier team that's already played two league matches," said the Swiss tactician, who is simply taking the draw as it comes: "We know that the games you play are rarely easy..."

The coach is full of optimism ahead of the start of the new campaign: "We're slowly getting there," he said. "I've seen a lot of positive things. But it's also normal to have lots of things that can still be improved."

"Not yet decided who'll play on Monday"

The pre-season friendly record was positive (five wins, two draws, one defeat), while – even more importantly – there were almost no injuries during the intense preparatory period. Only Jakob Bruun Larsen sustained a knock to his foot and will now be out for two weeks. But Julian Weigl is now fit again, having played for the U23s on Friday, and will gradually be prepared to return to the highest level over the coming weeks.

That leaves "a deep, strong squad" at his disposal. "It's not yet been decided who'll play on Monday," he explained. Turning his attentions to the at least 24 competitive matches facing BVB in the next four months, he said: "The season is very, very long. We need a good squad."

The 60-year-old does not have a certain system in mind that he wants to deploy. He has previously opted for 4-3-3, switching between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-4-2 as an alternative. A further formation will be rehearsed at a later stage. "We want to have several solutions," Favre said.

First of all though, his charges will have to find a way to break down what will presumably be a deep-lying second-tier team. "Physically they're fit, they're dangerous from set-pieces and counter-attacks," said Favre of Monday's opponents.
Boris Rupert