“Berlin is always worth a visit”

The Wolves begin their campaign at TuS Makkabi Berlin in the first round of the 2023/24 DFB Cup. At Friday’s pre-match press conference, head coach Niko Kovac shared his thoughts on…

… personnel: “Moritz Jenz, who hasn’t trained with the team since the first friendly in Gifhorn, was back in training today. We expect him to be available from now on. However, it doesn’t look like Sebastiaan Bornauw will be able to play this weekend due to an ankle problem. Kilian Fischer is also out with a knee issue, but Kevin Paredes is on the mend. We’re confident he’ll be back with the team pretty soon. We’ll also have Rogerio available for the cup game. He was sent off in his last league game in Italy and banned for two games, but as it stands that only applies to the Bundesliga. That means he’ll have the opportunity to feature in Berlin.”

… the DFB Cup: “Berlin is always worth a visit. There are six games between now and the final, which isn’t much. We need to put in a good performance in our first game against TuS Makkabi to have a chance of reaching the final. I’m aware that all 64 teams want the same thing, that’s why the cup is so attractive. I believe we can make it, though. If you don’t aim for something like that, you have no hope of achieving it.”

… pre-season: “We’ve worked hard and experimented in order to get the most out of our start to the season. Nobody will know, on Sunday or a week later against Heidenheim, where we really are. Results and elements of our play were better last year. We have ground to make up and need to make sure we compensate for what we’ve lost, and bring in reinforcements.”

… aims for the season: “Our aim is the same as last year, but we know we need to improve in several areas. In Felix Nmecha and Josuha Guilavogui, we’ve lost two midfielders who we haven’t replaced properly yet. It’s not getting any easier, but we’re sticking to our objectives. It’s important to have dreams you can follow.”