Head coach Daniel Farke and sporting director Roland Virkus answered the media’s questions at the pre-match press conference before Saturday’s game at TSG Hoffenheim (15:30 CET). We have summarised the most important quotes.
Daniel Farke on…
…the squad: Christoph Kramer was out for around 30 seconds last night after he took the ball to the head. He had a bad headache afterwards, but is a lot better today, so that’s a good sign, though he will undergo further examinations. The next 24 hours will decide if he’s available for Hoffenheim or not. Jonas Hofmann had a bad cold with severe symptoms. He wasn’t able to train with the team today, but we hope he can use the next 48 hours to recover. It’s going to be tight for Saturday.
…the game plan for Hoffenheim: Hoffenheim have a number of good attacking players, so we will need to be compact and defend well. Nevertheless, we have to be strong on the ball again. We created far too few chances in the second half in particular at Augsburg and lacked a threat in the final third. We have to show a reaction at the weekend. I expect more movement in attack and an improvement overall.
… Luca Netz’s progress: Luca has enormous potential and got lots of minutes last season. The biggest problem for him is that a quality player and consistent performer in Ramy Bensebaini plays in his position. Luca is still an important part of our future plans. There are very few negative things you can say about him – I’m pleased to have him here with us.
Roland Virkus on…
…the first half of the season: We set ourselves the aim in the summer of a solid season and a place in the top half, if possible – and we’re sat in ninth at the midway point. Nobody within the club was talking about qualifying for Europe, that was only spoken about by others. We have always been looking to increase the gap between us and teams below us. The last two defeats hurt us, but we won’t be overreacting or anything like that. Looking back at the season so far, we’ve had lots of ups and downs. We need to become more consistent, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.
…possible signings: We are continuing to keep an eye on the market, however a transfer has to make sense for us. A player has to strengthen us right away if we’re going to bring them in, so we have to carefully consider things. It wouldn’t be an issue if we didn’t sign anyone. We have full confidence in our current squad and believe we would have a successful second half of the season with these players.
