Alonso: ‘Players, coaches and staff pulling in the same direction'

Since Alonso took over as head coach, the Werkself have played three games in seven days. This week, the 40-year-old coach had five sessions working with the squad. "I feel very positive about the long week of training. Every session was important. You could see that everybody – whether it was players, coaches or staff – is pulling in the same direction and pursuing the same aims," declared Alonso.

Direct Communication with the players

The Spaniard was actively involved in this week's sessions as usual including working with the ball in training as he explained: "I always look to have direct communication with the players and that works best when I'm actively involved. I want to be active in training to help the players as much as possible and showing them the right spaces and passing options."

Aggressive and compact Wolfsburg

Alonso will have to manage without the suspended Piero Hincapie (one-match ban) in the home game against VfL Wolfsburg. Alonso explained that there will be a "higher intensity and level of concentration" against the Wolves compared with the match in Frankfurt. Talking about the opponents, he said: "Wolfsburg are a good team and they have a good coach in Niko Kovac. They are very aggressive and compact. We will need a complete performance and we’ll have to be fully focused for 95 minutes and have good body language."