Kramer: “The hard work is paying off now”

Borussia’s midfielder speaks about remaining patient and using common sense during injury lay-offs, as well as the reasons for the upturn in form.

Chris, you recently said that when you’re injured, you tend not to push things, but rather take it slowly. Is that why your return has taken a little longer than originally expected?

Kramer: I don’t think I wait too long, I simply wait long enough. I still felt something, and it makes no sense to try and return if that’s still the case. I’ll only come back to the pitch if I’m no longer in any pain. I’m not now and that feels really good. I’m pleased to be training in parts with the team again now.

Have you learnt to become patient over the years?

Kramer: I don’t know if it’s patience or just common sense. I’m generally really impatient. You actually want to be playing even more when you can’t. This lay-off has lasted a while now and I didn’t expect it to be this long. Of course, you start to lose your patience after a while. You have to just use some common sense though, and listen to your body. If you notice that something isn’t right, you have to use your common sense.

You’ve never had a really bad injury in your career. Is that down to you using this common sense or is it down to your body?

Kramer: Definitely down to my body, but also a bit of luck too. Lots of other players listen to their bodies as well, I’m not unique in this regard. I do, however, recognise when I need to take a rest or not train as intensively.

Borussia will take on Köln in the derby this Saturday. How much are you hoping to be back involved for this big game?

Kramer: Playing away in Cologne is always a highlight. Not just because of the derbies, but also because of the atmosphere – I just simply like playing there. As a result, I’d love to be involved, but the coach has to make his decision based on what makes the most sense.

Our form has really started to really pick up in your absence. What’s been the secret behind our success in recent weeks?

Kramer: I think changing our system slightly was really important. We’ve slowly settled on a style of play that we are happy with. It was always going to take a little bit of time. We just have to accept that you don’t really have this time in modern football, and that people can get frustrated very quickly. Nobody within the club was like that though. All the hard work is paying off now.

The defensive stability is particularly impressive.

Kramer: That was the main thing we wanted to work on from last season. You can’t always rely on the game being a thriller and hope that you win 4-3 in the end. It’s important that you keep clean sheets or only let the opponents score once. A goal changes everything in football and it’s hard when you go 1-0 down against any side. It’s therefore vital to try and keep the other side at bay for as long as possible. We know that we possess lots of quality. Our main aim was to improve on this and you can see we’ve worked hard on it.