Head coach Daniel Farke took questions from the media at the press conference before the Foals’ home game on Friday evening against Hertha BSC (20:30 CEST). We have summarised his most important answers.
Daniel Farke on…
…the upcoming opponent: I’m expecting a complicated game. Hertha are a club with a lot of potential. Fredi Bobic is a very experienced sporting director who is beginning to put his stamp on Hertha, and Sandro Schwarz is an excellent coach. You can already see his style and their process, and they’ve bought well in the transfer market. I’m sure that they will get plenty of points this season with that squad. We have a lot of respect for our opponent, but we’ve got plenty of quality and have enjoyed a good start to the season. We want to keep our unbeaten run going on Friday evening – to do that, we will have to be at our best in all aspects and deliver a top performance.
…the point earned at Schalke: Something that I want to instil into my team is a winning mentality. After they went 1-0 up, the whole stadium was buzzing and Schalke were caught up to by the emotion. That we managed to keep calm and chipped away at our opponent minute by minute is a sign of that mentality. Everyone knows how it is to play when you find yourself behind. We came back from a losing position against Hoffenheim on the opening matchday, so I’m happy with this mentality and mindset.
…the team news ahead of Hertha: Ramy Bensebaini took a knock to his hip and couldn't train on Tuesday. The same goes for Ko Itakura. Both have been partially training again and were looking good, so we hope that they can take part in full training on Thursday. Nico Elvedi also has a knock and could only train individually yesterday. There is good news regarding Lars Stindl, who was able to partially train with us, but he won’t be playing 90 minutes on Friday. It would be great if he were an option, because as captain he is an important player for us.
…Manu Koné: It was not an easy start to the season for Manu as he missed a lot of pre-season. We have to find a good balance in terms of workload management, because on the one hand we need to find some consistency for him, but on the other hand, he needs to remain fit to play. He had a very strong game against Hoffenheim, but there were ups and downs against Schalke. He’s doing well in training, and it’s good that he’s got another training week under his belt. We need him at 100 percent fitness.
…Hannes Wolf’s chances of game time: Hannes had a good pre-season and really worked on his fitness, so it was unfortunate for him that he got injured in such a critical phase before the start of the season. He’s a good guy who is also very versatile. The longer he stays fit, the bigger his chances are of being called on.
…loaning out Moritz Nicolas to Roda Kerkrade: Moritz is a very good goalkeeper and a top guy. I would have liked to have kept him for this reason, but we also have a responsibility to him and the club. Moritz is now at the age at which it’s important that he gets game time at a high level. Just training isn’t quite enough for him. We have a very experienced and valuable goalkeeping lineup in Yann Sommer and Tobi Sippel. So from the perspectives of both Moritz and the club, it was the right decision to loan him out and therefore give him the opportunity to play.
…possible further transfers: We have made no secret of the fact that we’re not in perfect condition up front. We don’t have much Bundesliga experience on our bench at the moment. Torben Müsel, Conor Noß and Yvandro Borges Sanches are all good guys, but they haven’t played at a Bundesliga level. Therefore we want to let them develop at a natural rate and not put too much pressure on their shoulders. That’s why we are trying to add more quality to our squad. We will be alert until the end of the transfer window.
