Run until you drop: Löwen trainer Köllner pulls the reins after a negative series

Created: 2022-10-12 09:28

By: Jacob Alschner

Löwen trainer Michael Köllner observes the intensive unity of his team.

© Imago Images / Wagner

The Löwen pros didn't have much to smile about on Tuesday.

Trainer Michael Köllner prescribed a tough session with intensive runs.

Munich – Bluetooth loudspeakers, it has become common practice, are now part of the basic equipment of every crew cabin.

Country in, country out, they become the focal point of the victory celebrations, and the TSV 1860 also regularly plays loud music on the Giesinger Volckmerstraße behind the Grünwalder stadium - but only if they have actually won beforehand.

As is well known, that didn't work at the weekend in the 1-2 draw against Ingolstadt and so exactly such a music box was used a few days late.

Instead of fat basses, jagged running commands rang out from the band across the pitch during Tuesday training on Grünwalder Straße, coach Michael Köllner (52) made it clear: the good mood weeks are over - even in training.

For he had his lions properly enslaved.

TSV 1860 Munich: Köllner lets players run intensively for half an hour

When Marcel Bär, Philipp Steinhart (both 30) and Co. came onto the pitch in a good mood, half of it was covered with small, colorful plastic cones.

Anyone who was still wondering what the whole breakdown was for only got an answer a little later.

On Saturday against the “Schanzer”, the lions didn't exactly shine with a lot of effort, sometimes shuffling across the pitch.

So sluggish that Köllner's coaching team - loosely based on 1860 legend Werner Lorant - then probably thought: "The players should run and shut up."

So fitness coach Jörg Mikoleit unpacked the music box, paired it (first without success, then successfully) with the smartphone and off we went.

For 30 minutes, Köllner let his men run over 80 and 100 meter distances, after each run there was only a few seconds to breathe.

The trick: the pace was increased from time to time, those who did not reach the finish line when the beep sounded were eliminated.

Köllner, meanwhile, stood there calmly and, in the best Louis van Gaal manner, silently noted which of his men held out for how long.

Joseph Boyamba (26), Quirin Moll (31) and Semi Belkahia (23) were among the first to hang up, followed only a little later by Leandro Morgalla (18) and Jesper Verlaat (26).

TSV 1860 Munich wants to get back on the road to success against VfL Osnabrück

At the latest at the required 20 km/h the field thinned out, and Martin Kobylanski (28) and Fynn Lakenmacher (22), who played underground against Ingolstadt, also gave up.

The latter was so exhausted that he lay on the grass for minutes like Jesus on the cross with outstretched arms and even missed the grand finale between Alexander Freitag (23) and Devin Sür (18).

The fact that Friday won no longer interested anyone.

The next exercise was pending;

this time with the ball, because that will also be part of the game at VfL Osnabrück (2 p.m.) on Saturday when Sixty wants to find its way back to success.

Poor mileage is no longer to be expected after Tuesday's torment.

(JACOB ALSCHNER)