The footballers of the SVA Palzing are in the district league in a relegation battle.
But there is no trace of nervousness - coach Sepp Summerer trusts his squad.
Palzing
- In May 2019, SVA Palzing secured the championship in the district league.
After 26 years, the club returned to the district league - as an outsider, but never mind, because the anticipation was huge.
The goal was to compete in this class a year later.
Palzing succeeded in doing this - but in a way that nobody could have expected.
Corona turned the 2019/20 season into the 2019/21 season.
The SVA has been in the bottom third of the table since the first match day - currently on relegation position 13th. The lead on the direct relegation ranks is only one point, but the gap to safe relegation is four points.
But nobody gets nervous in Palzing - and that is also due to trainer Sepp Summerer.
In the FT interview, the 65-year-old looks back on the football year 2020.
Mr. Summerer, five competitive games in one year is very little. How do you see 2020?
It's a very difficult season.
And it's weird to have two winter breaks.
Was there a special moment in the past year? One who got stuck?
We went to the training camp in Croatia to prepare for the second half of the season.
There were other teams there too.
But suddenly there was panic: Some were afraid that the borders would be closed due to the increasing number of corona infections.
We then canceled the training camp.
When we got home, there was a standstill here.
You had given great importance to winter preparation.
Our preparation in summer 2019 was not ideal.
The break after the ascent was short, we had a lot of injuries.
That's one of the reasons why we lost games at the beginning of this season in which we were actually on par.
In the final phase, we often lacked concentration.
So winter was very important.
Summerer: That was a lasting moment for him
From May football was allowed again - but initially without physical contact. Many teams did not take advantage of the offer, but SVA Palzing did. Why?
With or without contact, it didn't matter at first.
I noticed how happy the guys were to see each other again.
Being able to look yourself in the face is something different than just being able to do it digitally.
It was a lasting moment for me too.
In mid-September your team then had its first competitive game in 2020.
It was a long preparation.
The restart has always been delayed.
We prepared ourselves very well for seven or eight weeks.
That's long. You have been in business for several decades. Was your experience an advantage?
No, this preparation was new to me too.
You don't usually have that long break.
Did you change anything about the load management?
We prepared intensively for five weeks and then went back to the normal rhythm.
That means we only trained twice a week and only played on weekends.
And we tried to approach the test games like real point games.
“We made individual mistakes.
That was a damper. "
How optimistic were you before the restart?
We had good results like the 2-1 win against TSV Eching.
It was just a preparation game, but we saw that we can keep up.
Before the first game we were confident.
At FC Alte Haide, however, there was a 2-0 draw - and that against a direct competitor.
It was one of the weaker games, we made individual mistakes.
That was a setback.
After that, the results got better.
We won against Türk Ingolstadt and Finsing.
We had to win these games, they were mandatory victories.
In between there was the defeat in Dornach.
The performance was right, but we still lost.
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Trainer Sepp Summerer: "We can also stand up to very strong teams."
© FuPa
In the only league cup game, your team lost to SpVgg Kammerberg. Then the season was interrupted again.
We would have liked to have taken the league game against VfB Eichstätt II with us.
We would have tried to go into the winter break with a positive result.
There are six points from four league games in 2020 on the balance sheet. What is your conclusion?
We were physically there - and we also clearly improved in terms of play.
In terms of defensive behavior, however, we have to improve.
After 23 out of 30 games, how do you rate the level of the District League North?
The District League North is already strong.
There are many good teams and good individual players.
Many players have already kicked higher class, which is not the case in the district league.
In addition, the teams have no weak points.
In the league cup, the first knockout round is against FC Aschheim
When does the SVA start preparing?
The league cup is supposed to start on March 7th, we play at home against FC Aschheim.
If possible, we want to start the preparation at the beginning of February.
Should the SVA be eliminated, your team would not have any competitive games until the beginning of April. That would be the next long preparation.
Right.
It's difficult to plan, but we don't have a choice.
If we were eliminated from the cup in the first knockout round, we would have four more weeks of preparation before the start of the league against Eichstätt on April 3rd.
We would have to organize opponents at short notice.
And we would have to go back into the games as if they were competitive games.
Does Sepp Summerer have training plans for the training-free time?
No.
In recent years, however, there was a running meeting before the preparations started.
We always met on Saturdays, it was nice.
But we have to wait and see if we can do that this time.
There will be a standstill until the end of January.
Is the club bringing new players in order to be more broadly positioned in the battle to stay relegated?
Nothing is planned there.
We'll go into the last few games with the same squad - we trust the players.
Will Palzing also play in the district league next season?
Everything is possible.
We can also stand up to very strong teams, we saw that.
It will be difficult, but it can be done.
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