Seoane aiming to be “defensively disciplined and brave in attack”

Gerardo Seoane faced the press on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s clash with TSG Hoffenheim (15:30 CEST). We’ve collected some of the highlights from the conference, including Seoane’s comments on…

… the squad situation: We’ll be missing Jordan, Manu Koné, Tony Jantschke and Grant-Leon Ranos through injury. Chris Kramer is out too. We hope he’ll be able to return to training when he’s feeling better again next week. The other injured players have each received individual treatment this week to aid them in their recoveries. Some of them have also been partially reintegrated into training.  We’ll have to wait and see how they react to the increased workload. We’ll make a final decision on who will travel to Sinsheim after Friday’s training session.

… this weekend’s opponents: Hoffenheim have put in some very good performances at home. They have a versatile squad with technically gifted players. They get the ball forward and play good attacking football. However, we also know that they’ve had a few games where they haven’t put in the performances they would have liked to and let in a few sloppy goals.

 … his aims for the last five games of the season: I’m expecting  to see a team who are ready to compete on the pitch, defensively disciplined and brave in attack. The last couple of matches have shown the direction we’re heading in. As a team, we want to continue to play with that spirit and improve with each game. We need to make better decisions, though, and make fewer mistakes in transition.

… his expectations for this weekend’s match: We’ve given away a lot less defensively in the last few weeks – and that’s a positive thing - but that mustn’t come at the expense of our courage going forwards. I’m hoping for better control of the game when we’re out of possession, and that we don’t offer our opponents any spaces to play vertical balls into. We need to find a happy medium when we have the ball. We can’t go full throttle all the time, but when the opportunity presents itself we want to be able to get forward quickly.

… the role of Marvin Friedrich: Marvin’s been playing very well, especially at Wolfsburg. Against Dortmund, he was part of a defensive unit which gave very little away. Our defensive shape was narrow and compact, and that suits Marvin down to the ground. He also gives us defensive aggression, physical strength, good heading ability and accurate passing.

… a possible appearance for Florian Neuhaus: Flo’s been kept out of training by an Achilles problem over the last two or three weeks. He didn’t return to full training until Wednesday due to medical reasons, and if I can’t assess a player in training, that’s obviously going to have an impact on their playing time at the weekend.

… the imminent return of Manu Koné: Manu is on the pitch every day. He’s back training with the ball and we’re gradually increasing his workload. We’d briefly held hopes that things might go a little quicker than expected, but his recovery is currently progressing according to plan. I’m convinced we’ll see Manu on the pitch again this season, but I can’t say exactly when that will be at this stage.