Alemannia Aachen beat Bonner SC 1-0 in a test match thanks to a goal from trial player Joselpho Barnes. The captain and coach still see areas for improvement.
Alemannia coach Benedetto Muzzicato was not involved in the preparation planning. He would have preferred to skip two games in two days. After the 0-2 defeat against Roda Kerkrade on Friday (July 11), the narrow 1-0 victory against Regionalliga newcomers Bonner SC was already the second test in a row.
“It was the plan to play on Friday and Saturday – not my plan,” Muzzicato told club media. “I have to give the boys a big compliment for how they did it. But I still have a different idea of how it should be, there’s still a lot of work ahead of us,” he said, assessing the narrow victory.
As for the game itself, the Kaiserstädter were clearly tired, while Bonn started boldly and confidently and could well have taken the lead in the first half. Instead, however, it was Joselpho Barnes – a trialist for Alemannia – who headed a cross into the net and made a strong case for a contract with the club.
The BSC was able to recover from the goal scored by the 23-year-old, who was trained at FC Schalke 04. Aachen thus secured a narrow victory. But there was no reason for excessive celebration. The team’s offensive play in particular is not yet going according to plan. “I think we need to make better decisions in the second and third periods,” said captain Mika Hanraths. “We’re creating a lot, but we’re not getting the results. We’ll work on that. We know the guys up front can do it.”
His coach agreed: “In terms of focus and fitness, these two days were very important, but in terms of the style of play and approach we’ve had for the last three weeks, it’s difficult to implement.”
But Muzzicato is encouraged by the commitment of his players. It’s just a matter of time before everything clicks into place. “You can see that we have a different style of play,” explained the 46-year-old professional license holder. “The guys are more courageous in their build-up play. Getting a cross in zone one, which wasn’t allowed for two years, is a big difference. Anyone who has ever played soccer knows how much risk that involves.“
The focus in the coming weeks will therefore continue to be on playing with the ball. ”The emphasis is once again on possession, on processes, on patterns, and perhaps also on one or two variations,” said Muzzicato.