For the last time, our assistant coach Vitor Matos is using a diary to provide glimpses behind the scenes of our training camp in Saalfelden. The tenth diary entry ends the series with our Red Bulls returning to Taxham after the friendly match yesterday.

Wednesday 17 July 2024

Dear FC Red Bull Salzburg fans,

This is my last training camp diary, and it was a big pleasure to write to you all. I hope you got a bit more insight into our plans and how we lived and worked together during these past few days. This diary has been for you.

These days were outstanding. Seeing the bond everyone starts to have, the emotional connection, development of the team and players is like planting a seed and then taking care of the growth of the plant.

We started the morning with our set pieces meeting, as we keep developing some ideas and creating new ones. After that, we did a session with the players who we planned would have less game time against Rijeka. It was a really good session that focused on some structural dynamics as well as set pieces.

Then the time for the game came. Before that, Pep asked the media department to do a video about the training camp. He wanted to give something to the staff and the players that expressed his appreciation. So he asked for all the staff to be at the pre-match meeting with players and showed the video in the end. Like he said, we are all there to give the players the best possible context for them to develop and win, in the end everything is about them, and we just need to agree on a common plan for that.

Then we had the game. We wanted to balance the game exposure for the players who had less time in the match against Sparta while also starting to bed in this routine of having three games in one week. The main difference for us is how you need to find ways to stay concentrated in the training sessions and in the games, plus also how to find consistency with no time to train and only to recover and play. That’s the difficulty, and that's why we organised this sequence of games against Sparta Prague, HNK Rijeka and Sheffield Wednesday.

We are finding improvements in our defensive block, which is much more compact and aggressive each time and the defensive line is going step-by-step in the direction that we want, both defensively and offensively. There were some good individual performances and it was good to see Leandro Morgalla and Lucas Gourna-Douath back on the pitch!

I want to say, for one more time, a big thank you to all the staff from all our different departments. We are all very grateful for all the commitment you have shown. I would also like to express a personal thank you to my wife Laura and my children, Vicente and Julieta, as I want to see you here in Salzburg soon!

Des is Soizburg! That is our way!

Speak soon,
Vitor Matos

All the other diary entries

#1 | Pride, honour and the first day of the training camp

#2 | A big thank you and a bike accident

#3 | Keeping a balance

#4 | Table tennis final tops fun Thursday

#5 | Routine works wonders

#6 | Our friendly match from the coach's view

#7 | Looking for the mountain quizmaster

#8 | Swapping the pitch for the water

#9 | A time for clear messages

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Vitor's diary: A very fitting finale