Seoane: “We’ll need to be on our A game”

Gladbach head coach Gerardo Seoane spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon ahead of his side’s away game against FC Bayern on Saturday (15:30 CET). We’ve gathered his most important quotes below.

Gerardo Seoane on...

...the squad: Jonas Omlin, Tomáš Čvančara and Ko Itakura are unavailable for the game in Munich. Max Wöber is still in recovery training after an infection. The rest of the players trained today and are all options for Saturday. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if everyone’s feeling 100% fit after Friday’s session. We don’t want to take too much of a risk with the injured players. We’d never pick a player if they hadn’t been given the go-ahead by the medical department.

...the approach to the game: When you play against the top teams, you need to play really well across the board. The other team also has to have an off day. From time to time against Leverkusen, we wanted to press higher up the pitch and go on the attack, but we didn’t manage to do that. Sitting back worked well, however. We’ll have to be quicker on the counter and use space better than we did last weekend against Bayern. We’re planning on preparing as much as we can for the opposition and playing as well as we can in all departments.

...FC Bayern: Bayern might not have as much quality out wide as they usually do because of injuries. That being said, the players who are going to be on the pitch at the weekend are all good enough and they’ll be aiming to win the title and play in the Champions League. We’re not quite on their level, so we’ll need to be on our A game if we want to get anything from the match.

...Harry Kane: Harry Kane is incredibly important for FC Bayern. He’s a target man who holds the ball up well. His finishing is also unbelievably good. He doesn’t need a lot of chances to score goals. We’re aware that if we give him too many opportunities, he’ll punish us. It’ll be tough to shut him down completely, since he’s got the quality to get into scoring positions time and time again. We’ll try to shut down space as much as possible and limit their passing options.

...Rocco Reitz’s contract extension: It’s great news for the player, team and club that Rocco has extended his contract until 2028. He’s earned the extension through his good performances. We’re very pleased that he’s committed his long-term future to the club, as it shows the direction we want to head in as a club. Rocco demonstrated from the very start during pre-season and in the friendly that he’s a great player. He’s waited for his chance and made the most of it. His journey is far from over, however. He’s got to keep performing well consistently.

...Jonas Omlin’s return: Jonas has been partially integrated into goalkeeper training this week after recovering from his shoulder injury, which we’re really happy about. He wasn’t involved in the tactical work or shooting drills, though. We’ll take our time and see how his recovery progresses before he's an option again. There’s no doubt that he’s a top player, but he has to be back feeling 100% before he plays again.

...Stefan Lainer: We’re over the moon that Stevie’s back in training and that he did so well when he came off the bench in the last two games. Obviously, we’re not ignoring the fact that he hasn’t played in six months. Playing in a Bundesliga game is very different to a training session. You can’t properly replicate it. Stevie won’t be able to play for 90 minutes, but he’s ready to take the next step.

...Moritz Nicolas’ development: Mo has been a huge reason why we’ve been so defensively solid recently. He’s massively improved with the ball at his feet and his command of the penalty area is much better because he’s been playing so much. His biggest strengths as a keeper are his height and his instincts.