“It’s about passion”

At Thursday’s press conference ahead of VfL’s visit to RB Leipzig on Saturday 27 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), head coach Niko Kovac spoke to the media about…

…personnel: “Patrick Wimmer isn’t back to full strength yet after his collision – he’s going to need more time. Yannick Gerhardt is making good progress. I’m confident he’ll be able to start training with the ball in the next few days. Other than that, Jerome Roussillon has an Achilles tendon problem and we withdrew Kevin Paredes today because of a knee issue. Apart from that, everyone’s fit.”

…the league table: “Generally speaking, it’s clear that teams who were expected to be a little further up the table haven’t quite come out of the blocks yet. Teams who are very tough and focus more on the physical aspects of the game are currently near the top, while more technical sides – with the exception of Bayern – are having problems. I think it’s a trend – you have to be able to be aggressive against the ball and your opponents in order to survive in the Bundesliga.”

…VfL’s approach and abilities: “I’ve said this before – it’s not about the system, it’s about passion. You can talk as much as you like about how you want to approach a game, be it with one or two strikers. The important thing, simply, is how you implement things in terms of passion, aggression and togetherness.”

…the Wolves’ opponents: “Leipzig are a really strong team, individually well-equipped with lofty ambitions. They finished fourth last season so there’s a lot of potential in terms of quality. We’ll have to put a lot into the game in order to get anything from it.”