Toulouse FC new head coach Jens Berthel Askou said the club’s 2-1 pre-season win over Real Sociedad on Friday in Tarbes was a very positive performance, pointing to the intensity and build-up combinations as early signs that his squad is developing real connections.
Askou said he was particularly pleased with the attacking and defensive shape taking form, adding that both teams produced good things despite a difficult playing surface.
The Danish coach acknowledged that fitness remains a work in progress, saying the squad is still catching up and must sustain the same intensity for more than 90 minutes throughout a full match. He noted it is still very early in pre-season but said the group had learned a great deal and built confidence from the result.
System built on deliberate ambiguity
When asked about his preferred formation, Askou said his previous club’s system had been described variously as a 4-2-3-1, a 4-4-2, a 4-3-3, and even a 3-4-3 by journalists and analysts, and that this ambiguity was precisely the point. He said the setup is very dynamic, shifting depending on whether the team has the ball and how much they press.
Askou added that decision-making is a central pillar of his approach, covering when to go backward or forward, around or inside or over. He said his squad does not need a formal name for the system because they know what they want and what their foundations are, and the aim is that opponents will struggle to read what Toulouse intend to do.
Pre-season schedule takes shape
Toulouse confirmed their final pre-season fixture list ahead of the Tarbes match. The club will face Al-Ain, the team Askou described as the freshest UAE champions having claimed their fifteenth title in May, on Wednesday at 19h. That match and a subsequent game against Elche will be played at the Pinatar Arena complex in Murcia during a training camp running from Monday 3 August to Saturday 8 August.
A final pre-season test against Hamburg is scheduled for Saturday 15 August at 19h, one week before Toulouse open their league season at home to Lyon on 22 August.
