Manager's thoughts after first friendly in Germany
Fleetwood Town manager Graham Alexander told the Club website he is impressed with the way his side are progressing following the pre-season friendly against Borussia Dortmund.Town lost the match 1-0 but created a number of chances throughout and can take pride away from the match following a pleasing display in front of a small travelling contingency from the Fylde Coast.
Dortmund scored the winning goal just before the stroke of half time from the penalty spot, despite missing an early penalty courtesy of a brilliant save from Chris Maxwell.
However, Town had a penalty shout of their own blown away by the referee despite Jamille Matt going down after what looked a clear foul.
The manager looked past the penalty decisions and instead focused on the positive performances from his players.
He said: “It was a very good work out against a decent team. We played very well in the first half especially and we created four great opportunities.
“We should have scored but the build-up play and the creation of those chances is what pleased us. The lads’ work rate was excellent on a hot day and Dortmund moved the ball very well.
“We had to be disciplined in our play and we stuck to the task very well. We showed our physical strength.
“We made changes after 65 minutes, which we planned to do, and brought on practically a brand new team. I thought those lads did well too and they worked hard in a different formation. There are a lot of pleasing aspects from the game.
“I don’t want to get too much into the result. It is mainly about the workload the players put into the game and the tactical side. I thought we did all of those things really well.
“In the end it took two penalties, one in which they scored, to get the results for them. We had a definite penalty ruled out against Jamille Matt.
“It was pleasing for me as it would have been easy for the players to lose their discipline because of these decisions but they didn’t and they carried on playing in the way we wanted them to.
“We saw some really good performances and some of the youngsters showed some real promise. We are looking for a progression from each game in pre-season and our performance certainly showed that.
“It was great to see a number of supporters make the trip over. We thank the supporters for coming out and they got the opportunity to see the players first-hand because it is a pre-season friendly so they see them come out of the changing rooms etc.
“We thank them for coming out and we look forward to seeing them on Saturday as well.”