Hütter: “Focusing on what’s important”

After Tuesday morning’s training session, head coach Adi Hütter took questions from the media at the training ground. He spoke about the upcoming fixture against Bayer Leverkusen, the ground covered by his team and Ramy Bensebaini’s participation at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Adi Hütter on...

...what was focused on this week in training: We analysed the Bayern game yesterday and now we are preparing to take on Leverkusen. We know that Bayer Leverkusen have a lot of players with real pace that make a lot of runs. Therefore, this game will be about moments of transition – what we do after losing the ball, how we build up play. That’s what we are focusing on.

...possible revenge for the 4-0 defeat in the reverse fixture: Whenever you lose, you always want revenge. That’s the case for every team. Bayern wanted revenge against us but still lost. We have to focus on what’s important: How we are going to keep Leverkusen at bay and still create chances of our own at the other end.

...distance covered: Our work rate against Bayern was very pleasing. We went about it the right way – much better than before. It’s a piece in the puzzle of a win, or at least a very decent, compact performance. The fact that we have recognised that we had to raise the level of that side of the game is crucial. Therefore, we are working on that and trying to tackle the matter.

...Yann Sommer’s absence from today’s training session: He trained yesterday. In the game against Bayern he suffered a knock to his hip in a challenge with Lewandowski, and it still sometimes feels painful when he lands on it. He shouldn’t have any issues by tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.

...Christoph Kramer: He still has a bit of an illness. It’s not Corona, just a cold, which can still be the case in these times. He’s not quite at 100% yet and we’ll have to see how he is tomorrow. We have to take things day by day with him.

...the returns of those who recently tested positive for Coronavirus: They haven’t had any issues so far. They are training well and feel good. If they say that they don’t feel well then they won’t take part in training.

...a possible drop in performance level after a win against Bayern: We beat Bochum after the cup game. It was difficult to stay focused after the 5-0, but we played really well until the last 15 minutes. You also can’t really compare the two situations.

...the system: As a coach, you have to recognise the qualities that your team possess, and how to bring out the best in your players. With a three at the back we then have players like Luca Netz, Stevie Lainer, Joe Scally, Patrick Herrmann and Ramy Bensebaini, who all have the capacity to play out wide. We have many central midfielders and holding players who don’t get forward as much like Lars Stindl, Lasso Plea or Flo Neuhaus, who played in Munich. So it makes sense to tailor the system to the strengths of the individual players.

...set-pieces: Sometimes it is hard to explain why it hasn’t been working, even though you work on them a lot in training both offensively and defensively. At some point, respect also becomes a factor when you want to be extra careful and the opposition knows you are susceptible. Attacking-wise, sometimes it’s good not to think about that too much and just to concentrate and go for it. It may take a while, but we are now reaping the rewards of the work we put in. Stevie Lainer at the near post is nothing new, even though in Munich it wasn’t quite the near post. Movement at set-pieces is always important, but in the end it makes no difference if the runs are good, if the delivery isn’t good enough.

...the Africa Cup of Nations: I’m interested in the results, of course, especially when it comes to our players. I used to watch a lot of it, but now we are in the thick of the Bundesliga season and you have to be preparing for that properly. We’ll have to see how long we will be without Ramy. Algeria haven’t been beaten in a while, and I will proceed on the assumption that they will be going for the title because they are a very good side.