Seoane: “Give everything in order to be successful”

Ahead of Borussia’s upcoming home game against SC Freiburg on Saturday afternoon (15:30 CET), head coach Gerardo Seoane spoke to the press and answered questions from journalists. We’ve summed up all the key quotes from today.

Head coach Gerardo Seoane on…

…players returning from international duty: Manu Koné is injured and will miss several weeks. That’s always difficult. It’s now about finding alternatives. All of the other internationals returned fit and healthy and are able to play.

…the goalkeepers: We’ve decided that Jonas Omlin will start on Saturday. This decision was made over the course of the last two days by our coaching staff and in cooperation with our goalkeeping coach, Fabian Otte. We then informed the players. Mo Nicolas has done a very good job and undergone a strong development, when you consider where he was at the start of the season. We’re really happy that we have such a good group of goalkeepers. It’s not to be taken for granted in this position, that you can have a team of four that works so well together and that have this level of respect for each other. Everyone supported Mo and they will now do the same for Jonas.

…the decision to start Jonas Omlin: Jonas has done extremely well in training over the last weeks and has been pain-free for some time now. Not only has he recovered from his shoulder injury, but he’s also fully healed the adductor issues that were plaguing him last year. The fact that Jonas is our captain and a leader within our team were also key factors in our decision.

…Tomáš Čvančara and Alassane Plea: Tomáš Čvančara, Nathan Ngoumou and Lasso Plea all trained with the team again this week. We’ll decide tomorrow after the final training session who will be in the squad. They’re all theoretically an option. They are pain-free and are excited to be able to play football again. Given that they have all been training since their injuries, their fitness levels aren’t sitting at a zero, but a Bundesliga game is a very different level of intensity than an individual or team training session. They definitely are not ready to start yet.

…the international break and the remainder of the season: The international break does have an impact on those that remain here. The lads who were here during the last ten days trained well. We will now try to build up the anticipation again in the two days left before the game, by talking with the players but also in training. The whole team is focused and are happy to be back together and to be contesting the last eight games of the season together. As coaches, our task is to get the players on board, as there are always goals to be met, whether in terms of our position in the table or our development.

…SC Freiburg: What sets SC Freiburg apart is their consistency. They have a solid group of players in their squad, in terms of their footballing ability, mentality and age. We’re expecting an opponent with a clearly defined style of play, and a team that refuses to give up. It’s always tough to outplay or outfight them, because they have both physicality and footballing ability. We don’t want to show them too much respect though. We want to remain focused on ourselves and play our style of football on Saturday. We’re capable of creating chances against any opponent when playing at BORUSSIA-PARK.

…the atmosphere he expects at BORUSSIA-PARK this weekend: We all sensed that the atmosphere in Heidenheim was different. We respect that and the right of our fans to express their displeasure. Naturally, we’re hoping that they will be back supporting us once again. The team need their support and last season’s support was phenomenal, both home and away. We want to send a message by giving everything in order to be successful and make our fans happy.

…Shio Fukuda and Lukas Ullrich’s development: Both are young players that have made good progress this year. They both played well in the friendly against KAS Eupen, where Shio scored twice. We know that he’s always capable of being involved when the ball is in the vicinity of the goal. We will be sure to pick a squad that will best suit our approach against Freiburg. That’s the priority. Part of that also means coordinating with our academy. Playing for the U23s is about developing as a player, first and foremost, but we also know that they need positive results in the Regionalliga.