Reds Head Coach, Gerhard Struber spoke post-match following Barnsley's 2-0 friendly win at Crewe Alexandra, discussing a number of relevant topics.
ON THE FIRST FRIENDLY OUTING OF PRE-SEASON
“We had a good week of training at St. George’s Park, the home of England.”
“The boys at Crewe were tired, especially in the second half. You could see many of the players didn’t have the right freshness. We worked so hard the last week, doing double sessions every day, so we expected this.
“And so I was happy to see us pick up the victory and clean sheet, and many things went in the right direction but it was just the first, small step back into football for us.”
ON BEN WILLIAMS SETBACK
“It was a really bad injury for Ben. It was the only disappointment of our week away, it was a sad moment for us.
“He was an important part of our squad and he’s a very talented, young boy who is always improving. He’d had a good week with us and so this is very sad for him and for us.
“We will now need to look into the transfer market in that area as it’s an ACL (knee ligament) injury and we expect that he’ll miss most of the season unfortunately.”
ON RECRUITMENT AND NEW ARRIVAL, DOMINIK FRIESER
“Dominik is a really interesting player who I knew from Austria, he has many big experiences, played a lot of matches, and was very important for LASK in the Europa League.
“He makes our squad wider, he’s a very good option for us and has a very good mentality which makes him the perfect sort of addition to my squad and for our game-style.
“We will need more players also, and that’s something we will be looking to get sorted out in the next days, but it’s also important that we hold our own players in Barnsley. We need a strong, competitive squad if we are to make the next step in the Championship.
“We will not rush into decisions.
“The window runs until October and we want the right players at our club, we will only add quality to the squad.”
ON NEW COACHING STAFF
“They have had interesting careers, I know them both well from coaching at Red Bull Salzburg and they are bringing new ideas to our team.
“Tonda is young but has lots of experience and has worked with young players at big clubs like Bayern Munich and Red Bull Leipzig; Wolfgang had a great spell with the Austrian national team and in the Austrian Bundesliga and they both know our game-style so it has been a natural fit for us.”
ON THE FIXTURE LIST REVEAL
“It’s going to be interesting, especially with Luton, who like us in the last nine games of last season were in very good form and had some very good situations.
“But I remember the game at Luton Town and we were the better side in all areas, but didn’t get the result on the day. And looking at the first games, if we can be in the right way ourselves, and at our top level, we are capable of getting off to a good start.”