Hütter: “Win back the points dropped against Stuttgart’

Sporting director Max Eberl and head coach Adi Hütter answered questions from the press on Thursday ahead of the away fixture against Hertha BSC (Saturday 23rd October, kick-off 18:30 CEST). We have summarised the most important remarks from the press conference.

Head coach Adi Hütter on...

... the personnel situation: Our injury list is getting shorter. Ramy Bensebaini basically took part in all training sessions this week and will be an option for the game against Hertha Berlin, even if he’s not yet back to full fitness. Marcus Thuram has taken part in some of the sessions this week but he will remain unavailable for this weekend: we hope that he might be able to feature in some capacity next week. Stevie Lainer is coming back next week and will be slowly re-integrated into team training. Christoph Kramer is on his way back, but we only expect him to return after the international break, which would hopefully give us a fully-fit squad again.

... the game against Hertha BSC: Hertha played a great game against Frankfurt, but it wasn’t a flawless performance. You can clearly see how they’re trying to play. I assume they will want to press high up the pitch and attack quickly. In Serdar, Ascacíbar and Darida they have three central midfielders who are strong on the ball and who make it tough for their opposition. They try to win every challenge in midfield and are skilled in that area. I’m primarily focusing on my own team, though. We want to try and win back the points we dropped against Stuttgart. We also want to play like we have done in the past few weeks and play with some energy.

... his team’s playing style: I have a very talented team at my disposal, but it’s all about skill level in the Bundesliga, but also being able to bring the fight and put up some resistance, and the team’s done that well in recent weeks. Our quality on the ball never comes up short in a game. I like to see good and attractive football, which means playing with power and inspiring the fans. That’s my style and everyone is welcome to play it.

...the current situation in midfield: Manu Koné, Denis Zakaria and Jonas Hofmann have been three key players for us in recent matches and they put in some great performances. We’ve only conceded twice in our last three games and in general we’ve not allowed our opponents many chances. Everything looks very solid at the minute, so there’s no reason to make any big changes. It’s been quite tough for Florian Neuhaus recently, but he’s a very good player who works hard in training and he’ll get his chance.

... Luca Netz and his return to Berlin: We chose to sign him because he’s a great young talent. He firmly believes that he will develop as a player more quickly here, and he’s been giving a good account of himself recently, even if he may not be coming on as much as he wants to. He’s only 18 years old, after all. It’s normal to not play at your absolute best every game. Luca’s been working really hard in training this week and he will be relishing the chance to go back to Berlin.

... behind-closed-doors training sessions: I understand why the fans like to come and watch training. I also love it when we are all there, but on the other hand, members of the opposition also come by to observe the sessions. When we’re working on tactical aspects of our game, I would prefer for that information to not be shared publicly. A lot of people knew what our plans were for the Wolfsburg game, so unfortunately it’s necessary that we have some privacy every now and again so that we can practise certain elements of our game without everyone being able to spectate.

Sporting director Max Eberl on...

... contract talks with Matthias Ginter: We’re yet to agree on anything yet. We’re getting income from ticket sales once again, so we can plan our finances with that in mind. It means we’re capable of making an offer which, in our view, is appropriate for a Germany national team player. But several discussions with the player and his agent will still be necessary, and we’ll need to wait a bit longer to reach an agreement. There are lots of clauses in footballers’ contracts, but I’m not going to go into too much detail about what we’ve offered him. We discussed wages and contract length, but of course sporting prospects as well.

... the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic: Of course the pandemic has affected our operations somewhat. If last year was a normal year, then Borussia would have recorded their largest-ever revenue earnings and would have had many more opportunities from a financial perspective which would have helped the squad develop further. But it’s not turned out that way. Through many different ways and out of our own hard work, we’ve been able to manage the situation, and we’re very proud of that, but it’s certainly more difficult without external financial backing. Because of Corona, Borussia had to make some serious cuts. We’re stable and healthy at the moment, but we’ll try and reverse these cuts. We need to learn to live in the current climate and precisely calculate what we are able to do: that’s the reality of today, and we need to work with it.