Milot Rashica was meant to attend Werder’s press conference this afternoon to answer questions ahead of Saturday’s trip to Borussia Dortmund (18:30 CET). However, coach Florian Kohfeldt had to step in and speak on his behalf as a result of visa problems.
The player’s seat was unfortunately empty at Werder’s press conference today. At short notice, Milot Rashica was forced to cancel his appearance at the press conference due to a visa problem ahead of the Green-Whites’ trip to South Africa for a winter training camp. Although he wasn’t there in person, his name and recent performances were both mentioned by his coach. There is no doubt that both the player and club had imagined more playing time to start the season. Rashica had only played 119 minutes of Bundesliga football so far this season before the Düsseldorf game on Friday night. All of the Kosovo international’s appearances had come from the bench , despite being involved in a goal in both of the opening two matches of the season. “For a certain period of time, he was lacking a bit of tactical understanding in defensive work and the necessary desire you need to constantly show when not in possession,” said coach Florian Kohfeldt regarding the 22 year-old’s dip in form.
However, Rashica has shown an impressive reaction. This was initially evident in training, where “he enthusiastically implemented what we ask him to take on board,” before he once again impressed in Werder’s match with Fortuna Düsseldorf. The 22 year-old played an active role in Werder’s attacking duo and caused Düsseldorf’s defence plenty of problems with his fast dribbling. Kohfeldt knew Rashica had the ability to change matches from the moment he joined the club from Dutch side Vitesse Arnheim last winter. “I had a good idea of what we could do with Milot from the day he arrived at the club. He can decide matches and his right foot is a huge weapon. You rarely find player with such a low centre of gravity and enormous pace,” said the Green-Whites coach.
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Dortmund, Kohfeldt said that Rashica had a good chance of starting for Werder. The striker could soon become a key player for the Green-Whites and a good performance in Dortmund could go some way towards achieving that.
