Manager pleased by Town's work ethic over past week
Graham Alexander praised his players as their week long stay in Germany came to an end this afternoon.The Cod Army slipped to a narrow defeat against Alemannia Aachen this afternoon, with Jack Sowerby netting for Town early on.
Alexander and his players will now return to the United Kingdom to continue their preparations ahead of the new season.
After the game, he said: "Today was another good workout against another good team. We were disappointed though not to extend our advantage after taking the lead.
"We're here to work the players hard which they've done. We need to learn where we need to improve as a team and as individuals.
"There's a lot of players here playing in a professional first team for the first time.
"They're learning what it's all about and what's needed. We're learning about them too and where they're standing in the pecking order.
"On that side of things it's been a great exercise for us. Physically the players have stepped up again and worked extremely hard.
"When we get back to England we'll continue to work hard and look for more improvement.
"We've got a clearer idea of what we have in the squad now than what we did 10 days ago.
"There were certain aspects in the game that we need to improve on. If we'd have hung on to win 1-0 then I'd still be looking for improvements in certain areas.
"The boys now know what's needed from them and that was the whole reason for coming away.
"We've got everything we've wanted to take out of this trip. The players have worked extremely hard and have done everything that was asked of them.
"They've got closer to each other as people because there's a lot of new faces in the group.
"We've basically reinvented the squad over the course of the summer and it'll take a lot of weeks and months to make sure we get it bedded in.
"It was a big attraction for our fans to come to Germany and play two very strong teams.
"It's important that the players know what it's like to represent Fleetwood Town.
"It's been great to see some familiar faces over here with us and we look forward to see them all again at the fans forum next Wednesday."