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Victory in the first test of the year
The first test of the year was played out in perfect conditions. Julian Nagelsmann lined up his team with Oliver Baumann in goal, while Fabian Schär, Kevin Vogt and Ermin Bicakcic made up the back-three. In midfield, Philipp Ochs, Sebastian Rudy, Kerem Demirbay and Steven Zuber started, with Nadiem Amiri, Sandro Wagner and Mark Uth up front.
Right from kick-off, TSG were the better side and dictating the play. Uth put Hoffe into the lead with a well-placed left-footed effort. Zuber’s goal to make it 2-0 was similar, while Amiri and Demirbay had good chances from free kicks. The visitors only carved out one chance of note in the first period.
“I’m very satisfied with the first half. Our opposition barely got out of their own half and we played well,” said Nagelsmann after the game. Goal scorer Uth was equally as pleased, confirming that “everything we planned worked very well.”
Eleven changes in the second half
None of the players that started came out in the second half, as Nagelsmann chose to drastically switch things up. He kept the same formation but this time Gregor Kobel lined up in goal, with Niklas Süle, Eugen Polanski and Benjamin Hübner ahead of him in defence. Pirmin Schwegler, Pavel Kaderabek, Baris Atik and Danilo Soares were deployed in midfield for the second period, with Marco Terrazzino, Adam Szalai und Andrej Kramaric making up a three-pronged attack.
Groningen started better after the break and took full advantage of an early chance to halve the deficit. TSG didn’t perform as well in the second period, with Nagelsmann admitting “the second half wasn’t good, we lost the ball too often and were too open. No more goals were scored, with the best chances during the remainder of the game falling to Terrazzino, Atik and Schwegler.
Alexander Stolz was forced to sit out of the game due to stomach problems, while Jeremy Toljan and Lukas Rupp were unavailable with thigh and knee problems respectively.
