After beating SGS Essen 3-1 away last time out, VfL Women are on the road once again this weekend as the league leaders take on Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga on Sunday 4 February (kick-off 14:00 CET). Ahead of the encounter, head coach Tommy Stroot discussed…
…personnel: “Kathy Hendrich isn’t ready to come back yet against Leverkusen. Diana Nemeth and Camilla Küver will both be absent too. Camilla had her wisdom teeth taken out, which is why she’s out for a couple of days. There’s still a question mark surrounding Kristin Demann. She’s still working her way back to full fitness, so we’ll have to wait and see if she’s ready to be in the squad.”
…the opposition: “Leverkusen do certain things differently to Essen. They often play with three at the back with traditional wingers going up and down the flanks. That’ll mean we’ll have to be on our guard defensively. But we’ve got a lot of options in our squad in terms of controlling a strong opponent. One thing for us is clear: we won’t ever change our system, but we do make tweaks here and there depending on the opposition.”
…the focus in training ahead of facing Leverkusen: “Obviously we’ve analysed Leverkusen and the way they play, but we’re focusing on our own matters. What do we want to improve? What lessons can we take from the Essen game, despite the playing conditions? This week we’ve been especially focusing on our attacking game. We looked at creating chances, movement patterns in open play and particularly in the box. A lot of that was planned anyway. We didn’t have to look at different things as a result of the Essen game.”
…Polish forwards going head-to-head: “I think Ewa [Pajor] is ahead in many areas. She’s outstanding. In Poland I think she has the same status as Robert Lewandowski in the women’s game, and that’s undisputed. I think they keep tabs on each other but both players can make their own assessments.”
