"We have to be ready!"
Marco Rose speaks at the pre-match press conference ahead of the game against VfB Stuttgart
RB Leipzig welcome VfB Stuttgart to the Red Bull Arena on Friday evening (20:30 CET). RBL head coach Marco Rose discussed team news, Stuttgart’s strengths and his hopes for Friday evening.
Marco Rose on...
... Team news:
- "Mohamed Simakan is doing better again and will train again today and hopefully he can be involved tomorrow. Abdou Diallo will be unavailable. We’re still waiting on an exact diagnosis and therefore can’t say anything more concrete yet."
… Dani Olmo’s performances:
- "He’s a fantastic player. What I really like about Dani at the moment is his work getting back. He defends physically and carries out every task brilliantly. That, as well as his individual quality, makes me really happy.
He deserves all the praise he’s getting and we’re hoping that he performs just as well in the upcoming weeks.
… Timo Werner’s return:
- "The next step for him is to develop his goal threat so he can help us long term. Timo was out for a few weeks and then held up well against Schalke. We have another midweek game next week too. We’ll take it game-by-game with him.
Timo is an important player for us and after his lengthy injury we have to make sure that we don’t push him too much. He’s not given us that impression so far though, and he’s in good shape."
… Pressing:
- "We pressed really well in the first half against Schalke but eased off a little bit in the second half and that’s how we conceded the goal. But Schalke is a completely different game to Stuttgart.
However, the man-orientated pressing, our work off the ball and controlling the spaces are things that we did really well."
… The league table:
- "Everything is very tight and we’ve got ourselves into a decent position. We’ve gone fifteen unbeaten across all competitions and we’ve still got teams hot on our tail. Looking above us in the table, things have got a bit tighter as well. We have to think long-term and perform tomorrow to take the next step.
The Bundesliga is a very attractive league with a lot of goals. I feel that a lot of the games are incredibly intense and a lot of teams in the league adopt an approach based around being intense. That refers not only to physicality, but also play on the ball.
That means that every game is a big challenge, regardless of who you’re against. I’m obviously looking at the table because we have our goals, but it’s always about the performance. The result is always the result of the performance that we’ve delivered."
… Stuttgart:
- "Stuttgart are a very talented side who play with intensity. They like to play a fast game and press really well. Every goal that they scored last week came off the back of winning the ball. They’re a really good side.
Endo has been a fantastic player for a few years and Karazor organises and reads the game well from the six position. Mavropanos is very fast and plays in their last line of defence. It’s a good team; we have to be ready tomorrow."
Get ready for #RBLVfB
… Conceded goals:
- "You can’t avoid conceding goals and they will happen, but they should come around because we’re not the better side in that moment, not because we’ve switched off. We did well in that regard in the first half against Schalke, but in the second half we say what happens when we’re not 100% focused – you concede.
Things can go really quickly in football. If we hadn’t scored those two goals just before half time, the game might have gone differently. As head coach, I expect us to go into these situations as a team. If not, we have no chance of being among the top teams in the league. We lost that focus a little bit in the second half against Schalke."
… Benny Henrichs:
- "After not being called up to the Germany squad for the World Cup or perhaps the little playing time in the first half of the season, Benny’s reaction has been exactly what I was expecting. He didn’t complain or feel sorry for himself, but rather worked brilliantly in the training camp. He got himself into a good position and into a condition where I can say that I can’t overlook him right now.
Mohamed Simakan was the first choice in the first game back after a great performance before the break, but he was out for the second game and Benny came in and played well against Schalke. That’s how it should be. Everyone should perform and Benny’s doing a good job of that at the moment.
… Stuttgart head coach Bruno Labbadia:
- "I got to know Bruno both while he was coaching and while he was out of a coaching job. He is a pleasant and ambitious person, but he also radiates a relaxed energy. He can offer a lot of value to Stuttgart with his experience. He’s been through relegation battles before and was also in the Champions League places with Wolfsburg. He’s a real expert and is a great person."
… Aims against Stuttgart:
- "I want us to have a goal threat from all areas, whether that comes from our attackers, midfielders or defenders. But the main priority is our defence and stability. We have to focus on keeping a clean sheet. That’s why the goal we conceded against Schalke was so frustrating."
… Amadou Haidara:
- "He did really well in our mid-season training and is in good form. He’s particularly important for us during this spell when we’re playing a lot of games."