"The team are motivated!"

Final away game of the year. The Red Bulls travel to Bavaria on Wednesday evening as they take on FC Augsburg. Kick off is 20:30 CET.

Head coach Domenico Tedesco spoke to the media at the virtual press conference ahead of the game.

Domenico Tedesco on ...

... His first few days with the team:

• "There was a bit of time to get to meet everyone and not much time to train. But that’s the way it is when you have midweek games and at the same time it’s great fun. My impressions are very positive, we’ve trained, done some video analysis of the Gladbach game and held some individual talks."

... FC Augsburg:

• "They always have players who bring a certain mentality onto the pitch. They are compact and structured. After winning the ball, they like to attack the goal quickly, and like to get in behind with fast and robust players. That’s a key characteristic of the club and also the current team."

... Team rotation:

• "We don’t pick the team based on results alone. When things work well, it makes sense to leaves them as they are. However, you can have a good game and still lose, so that’s why we don’t do it based only on the result."

… Room for improvement on the road:

• "We haven’t picked up many points in away games this season. We have to go there and play just as courageously as in a home game. For the lacking results so far, different reasons have been at play and it’s not just based on one thing that was occurring again and again. The team is in a good way, is up for the game and therefore we’ll go into tomorrow’s game against Augsburg looking to get the maximum out of it."

… André Silva:

• "Goals are important for a striker. André is someone who always wants to be in and around the box and loves to score. However, we don’t judge our players just on that. He had a really good game against Gladbach and not only because of his goal. His movement was really good, his deep runs were well timed, he held up the ball well and opened up spaces for his teammates. In André I see a really good player who enjoys being out there on the field."

… A back three or back four:

• "That’s a topic where I take the team’s thoughts on board. I’ve spoken a lot with the players. The tendency in our discussions was towards a back three, but that doesn’t mean that four in defence is completely ruled out. The principles that we work on with the team are independent of our system. What’s much more important is the way that you play the system. The reason behind it is the feedback from the group."

… Europa League opponents Real Sociedad:

• "My first impression was that they’re not as talked about in Germany as say FC Barcelona, Real or Atlético Madrid, however they have some really good players. In Alex Sørloth they’ve got one of us, and it’s a good squad. Fifth place in Spain’s top flight speaks for itself."

… The coaching team:

• "After my first discussions here, I was sure that Andreas Hinkel and Max Urwantschky would be very well received. They’re already on first name terms with all of the staff here and are super integrated.
  
  Things have been shared out well. Marco Kurth showed us how things were being done beforehand and we added our own ideas. It's always about improving as a team."

… The city of Leipzig:

• "I feel good here and already know the city from my time when I was on my coaching course. It’s a really nice city. I’m looking forward to having a little bit more free time and being able to go into the centre more often."

Personal-Update:

• Lukas Klostermann (muscle problems) and Amadou Haidara (ankle) continue to train individually. It's still unclear if they will be available for Wednesday's trip to Augsburg.
   
• After a long spell on the sidelines following a medial meniscus tear in his left knee, Marcel Halstenberg is set to complete parts of team training on Wednesday.