After Adi Hütter’s second training session at the helm, Christoph Kramer took the time to share his first impressions of preseason with the media.
Christoph Kramer on…
…excitement ahead of the new season: When you spend all your time watching football and following a long European Championship, you start to get itchy feet. So I’m absolutely buzzing to be back on the pitch.
…fans in the stadium: It's great – for us and for the fans. When there's things going on around the stadium, it makes a difference right away. It's almost scary to be in front of so many people. That's what football thrives off, it's how it should be. Just like the fans, us players are over the moon to hear people clapping after we do something well.
…his first impressions of Adi Hütter: All good. So far I've found him to be a really nice, positive guy. I like that and I think things will go well. He wants to play attractive, successful football. We have to be able to counter, be comfortable in possession and master the gegenpress. Wanting to win football games and play nice football along the way – that’s nothing new.
…his first discussions with the new boss: I think it's great that Adi Hütter is such a communicative coach. Right now we're just getting to know each other and learning what is important to the coach – that's pretty normal. The coach is also getting a feel for the team.
…possible changes to the squad: It's not a topic of discussion in the team. We know that we have one or two areas to work on and that changes will definitely be made.
...lessons from last season: When you get together again, everyone is really excited to be playing football. Everyone wants to kick on. The fans are back and it feels like the dawn of a new era. Obviously we've done a critical breakdown of the season, but we've put it behind us over the holidays. You know what you've done wrong and what didn't go to plan. But with the new coach, it's not the time for an inquest – it's time to turn over a new leaf.
…playing against former club VfL Bochum: I am unbelievably excited about that. I hope that we will get to play on a Saturday at 3:30pm. Not too warm, not too cold, maybe a bit of light rain. The Ruhrstadion, hopefully sold out and with loads of Gladbach fans. An afternoon of football doesn't get any better than that.
