Seoane: It’s about being effective and positive results

Gerardo Seoane on…

…the current personnel situation: There were no serious injuries from the Wolfsburg game. Karim (Bellarabi, ed.) has made a successful comeback after his injury. Rob (Andrich, ed.) was also up to the full 90 minutes at the weekend. In the international break it's about looking after players so there are no new problems. Patrik (Schick, ed.) is now beginning the second phase of his rehab and is gradually joining in with full training. Everything has gone well up to now. At the same time, muscle injuries like that involving ligaments are always somewhat more complicated to assess than for example a break so we will have to be very careful in terms of workload. Andrey (Lunev, ed.) will probably be back with the team next week.

… the organisation of this week's training: We consciously wanted to do things a bit differently this week. For us it was about being more careful in training and not risking any new problems. That's why we worked more on stamina on Tuesday, Wednesday included a fitness programme and there will be another programme on Thursday. The players have the weekend off so that we can start again on Monday at our full strength.

…Julian Baumgartlinger’s progress: Baumi has done a lot of sessions with high intensity in recent weeks. He is in a very good state of fitness. Then it's always about observing how the body reacts and that's mostly going up and down but also step-by-step more and more in the right direction. He is not yet 100% so there is a lack of power in challenges but he's already able to get fully involved and has confidence in his own body. It's always difficult to join in in the middle of the season because you not only have little time to adjust but we also have to weigh up if it's too early and when not. Given our current situation, I'm sure he will still be important for us. Above all, Baumi is an important part of our team in terms of character. He's always motivated, supports others, has a lot of energy, good dynamism and takes responsibility.

…the role of Odilon Kossounou in the right-back position:  Odilon obviously interprets the role of right-back differently from Jeremie (Frimpong, ed.) due to his qualities. That also always changes the shape of the game. As coaching staff, we always have to see what opportunities we have to use players where they can bring us the most benefit. That means we can play with a back three or a back four. He provides stability in defence above all through his physique, strength in challenges and power. It's difficult to get past him. But he is also quick and valuable at set pieces. The switch from position in central defence to the right-back position is generally pretty big but he can adapt quickly and has done it very well.

…targets for the rest of the season: There are always different phases in a season. At the start, it was primarily about focusing on development and continual improvement of performances and now, towards the end of the season, it's about being effective and positive results. We know it will be tight right to the end because there most probably won't be any team who will win or lose all of their remaining games. Therefore, we don't want to look at others or make loads of calculations but instead produce our maximum in every game and end by securing a Champions League place. For us that's an important interim target in view of the future for keeping the team together and developing further.