Why Bosz is not playing a friendly

"Particularly now during the international break, we have more time to practice set pieces and individual things and fine tune them," said corner specialist Kerem Demirbay. "We have to keep on practising set pieces – the execution, liaison with team-mates and timing are very important criteria." The remaining nine Werkself pros plus U19 player Ayman Azhil hit around 400 shots at goal. According to Peter Bosz, it was a very "intensive session" for the muscles and ligaments and, after the training session, he stressed to the media how important it is to be in control of this training regime. "After such a session we don't have any incredibly heavy workloads for 48 hours."

Good news on injury front

A look at the injury stats demonstrates the sense in that approach. With the exception of Joel Pohjanpalo, who is completing more full training day by day, all the Werkself squad is currently available. "That's obviously very good. That enables us to carry on working on fitness and the way we play," declared Bosz who also knows that good control of training, care, preventive measures and the right diet cannot prevent all injuries. "– Daft knocks in training or in a game can always happen. For example, with Mitchell Weiser in the game against Almelo when an opponent trod on his foot.."

Weiser: No longer first-team regular

At the end of July, the right back suffered a bruised soul of his foot and metatarsal in a challenge. Weiser then had to wear a special shoe and for three weeks trained on his own. Now he's back up to full speed and returned to the squad for the home game against Hoffenheim. "Of course, I want to play. I always want to play from the start," declared the 25-year-old. But he understands the decisions made by Peter Bosz and is waiting for his chance. "I'm doing everything I can to be fully there when I'm needed." He is sure he will get his chance. "There are no longer eleven first-team regulars like before. Instead, there are 16 or 17 outfield players who feature regularly. And I count myself amongst them."

Good reasons for not playing friendly

Nevertheless a friendly during the international break could have done him good. In terms of rhythm and match practice. The same applies to Daley Sinkgraven and Nadiem Amiri. Peter Bosz said thought had been paid to that but in the end there are good reasons for not doing it. Due to the large number of international call-ups, there would only have been ten outfield players available of which six (Lars and Sven Bender, Karim Bellarabi, Kerem Demirbay, Kevin Volland and Wendell) have had a lot of time on the pitch in recent games.

Six games in 22 days

Weiser, Amiri and Sinkgraven won't need to kick their heels for too long. There are six games in 22 days after the international break. Talking about fixtures: The DFL today announced details for match days 7 to 13. The Werkself have one Friday night match, three Saturday afternoon and two Saturday night games and one meeting on a Sunday. Here are the details.