"We were really dangerous"
Head coach Marco Rose, Xaver Schlager, Dominik Szoboszlai, Marcel Halstenberg and Emil Forsberg react to the 4-0 win over VfL Bochum.
Marco Rose:
- "It was a fully deserved victory today. We did a lot of things well and were really dangerous. We had a lot of chances and still kept a clean sheet at our end; it was a really good performance today.
We knew that Bochum would play with a back three. We used analysis from Vitesse Arnhem and Bochum games. Christo was very strong through the middle."
Xaver Schlager:
- "It was a good message from us today. The most important thing was getting the win, and the way we did it was also important; it gives you confidence for the upcoming games. We showed very quickly today that we didn’t want to give them a chance and that’s how we have to continue. If we can perform to our quality on the pitch, we will cause a lot of teams problems.
Playing against a back five means you have to move around a lot going forward and create problems. Our plan was definitely to be variable in attack. Bochum applied a lot of pressure at the start of the second half. If they’d have managed to get a goal back then, it could have been a tight game. However, we managed to make it 3-0 and that put the game out of reach.
Things work really well between me and Kevin in central midfield. But it’s not overly important who’s playing alongside who – it’s more important that the movements complement each other. Everyone is doing the best possible job."
Dominik Szoboszlai:
- "It was really fun today. We absolutely wanted to go into the new week on the back of a win. We have some tough weeks ahead of us with twelve games in six weeks. It won’t be easy but we’re ready – you could see that today. Everyone was there for each other.
I didn’t know that Timo had scored so many goals for Leipzig. I congratulate him and hope that he can score 100 more.
The game today gives us a push for the Champions League against Celtic on Wednesday. We will go into the game with a lot of power and energy; we need the points – both in the Champions League and the Bundesliga."
Marcel Halstenberg:
- "We showed again today that we can score goals with energy, intensity and pressing. That’s what we wanted to do and it worked well. I had a good day today and when I’m needed, I can be there. I just want to carry on staying fit and working hard. We can only win as a team and that worked well today."
Emil Forsberg:
- "I was celebrating from the bench today – the way we were playing looked really good. We were very present today and showed the quality that we have. We put Bochum under pressure immediately and played with tempo.
Everything always depends on us. We have to bring this level of performance to the pitch as well as this mentality and approach. If we can bring everything, then things look like they did today.