Seoane: “We will go into the match with maximum focus”

Head coach Gerardo Seoane answered the media’s questions in his press conference ahead of the Foals’ Bundesliga game against Union Berlin on Sunday (15:30 CEST). We’ve summarised his most important comments.

Head coach Gerardo Seoane on...

...the squad situation: Christoph Kramer, Tony Jantschke, Max Wöber and Jonas Omlin, as well as young players Simon Walde and Grant-Leon Ranos aren’t available due to illness and injury. Additionally, Julian Weigl is suspended. Jordan, Franck Honorat and Manu Koné were able to take part in the lighter parts of team training again on Friday, but they are all still doubts for the game. We need to wait and see how they react to the strain and whether all three are options for Sunday.

...the significance of the match: There aren’t many games left and we’re going up against a direct rival. Therefore, it’s a crucial game, particularly as it’s a home game. The tension levels will go up a notch. We will go into the match with maximum focus and we’ll prepare for the game correspondingly.

...their upcoming opponents: Union Berlin are a really tough team to play against. They’ve fought back extremely well following their poor start to the Bundesliga season, even though they haven’t got the results they were hoping for in the last three games despite good performances. Union are a really physical side who are aggressive in their duels and play very purposefully. It will be a game in which we need to fight for every second ball and show aggression.

...his expectations for the game: It’s clear that neither side will be going into the match with as much confidence as a team like Bayer Leverkusen, for example. That being said, we’ll get down to business on Sunday with conviction and resolve. We’ve got to bring all the qualities that you need in games like this to the table. We want to put the opposition under pressure, but we’ve also got to ensure that we adapt to the way Union play. We’ll need to keep the space in behind our backline limited and look to be aggressive to win loose balls.

...a possible change of tactics: As a coach, you try to tweak things according to the needs of the team. The processes we use, however, are fundamentally ingrained into us, so it would make no sense to turn things on their head now. That being said, we always try to implement new ideas into our set-up.

...Patrick Herrmann announcing his retirement: Patrick has had a remarkable career. Playing at this level for 15 years as a professional is an impressive feat. I’m grateful to have a player like him in the squad. He’s got a lot of experience and really helps push the young players in the right direction both on and off the pitch. Patrick is the epitome of professionalism day in, day out and gives the younger players someone to look up to. He embodies the club 100% and is the face of Borussia. It’s normal that his body’s started to show some signs of slowing down. That’s why he’s not played as much as he might have wanted to this season. It’s wonderful that he’s going to stick around at Borussia in another capacity after he’s hung up the boots.