Stindl: "We can definitely head into the break feeling good"

After a captivating 4-2 win against Borussia Dortmund to wrap up the first half of the season, Captain Lars Stindl sat down to discuss the game and the campaign so far.

Lars, your win against Dortmund on Friday night in front of a sold out BORUSSIA-PARK takes you into the winter break on a real high. What were your thoughts on the game?

Stindl: We delivered an absolute top performance. The first half was very turbulent. We went into the game with our tails up and earned the goals that we scored – beautifully built-up goals. Together with the fans in the BORUSSIA-PARK, we were feeling great and converted all of those difficult moments from the past weeks into positive energy. After they made it 3-2, another tough period started for us, but our 4-2 winner fell for us perfectly – and we even had chances to get more goals after. However, we were looking very sturdy and didn’t allow much to get through the defence.

Jan Olschowsky played in goals once more and rose to the occasion a few times. How do you assess his performance?

Stindl: After Dortmund halved the deficit and put the pressure on us, Jan made a couple of terrific saves and kept us on course to win the game. I’m pleased for him as he delivered an excellent home performance. He exuded coolness and gave us a lot of confidence.

You also had a good game of your own with two assists. What does that mean to you personally?

Stindl: Well, I obviously had a lot of fun on the pitch yesterday. Of course, the coach had to make some difficult calls and I indeed found myself back on the bench later on. If it’s the case that you get annoyed, you have to put that aside after a moment and then level your full focus back on the team’s success. We have a lot of good lads that all want to play. You’ve got to accept that if you’re not picked, you still need to be full present. In that respect, I want to be a role model as the captain. You can’t always preach that the team comes first – you have to show that too.

Some of the criticism leveled at the team recently was that the team either plays brilliantly, like against BVB, or have a terrible day, like in Bochum. What’s it like from your perspective, now that we’re 15 games into the season?

Stindl: It was valid criticism. We always try to play to the best of our abilities. At home, we often manage to do so for the full 90 minutes, but we’ve often struggled to repeat it in the following match – for example, like we did against Bochum in mid-week. If our opponents play lots of long balls, then we often get sucked into what they’re doing and lose sight of how we want to play.

Is that one thing you want to work on before the Bundesliga returns next year?

Stindl: It’s definitely an area we need to work on, so that we manage to play the way we want to play more often away from home. As a team, we’re extremely self-critical and the coach didn’t mince words after the Bochum game in particular. We managed to play our game against Dortmund and found ways of playing our way out of trouble when needed. That’s the DNA that we sought to represent and what we want to show out on the pitch. Our next goal is to be able to consistently perform like that. In order to do so, you need a willingness to work hard, and need to be focused and brave to do well at the basics that we’ve practiced so often.

How does it feel to head into the mid-season break with a win?

Stindl: We can definitely head into the break feeling good. Five of the lads will be heading to the World Cup soon, and we will of course be cheering them on. The rest of us will take a few days off now, before we return to analyse our previous games this season. We will then start working to prepare as best as possible for the challenges we will face in 2023. We want to try to be more consistent with our results. If we manage that, then I’m confident we will be able to see some long-term success.