'I'm expecting a very interesting and attractive game'

…his summary of preparations for the second half of the season: "We knew beforehand that two weeks was obviously going to be very tight. That's why we tried to use the time as best as possible – we trained well, trained hard and tried to get all the players used to our style of play as quickly as possible. It's fun working at Bayer 04 and even more fun that we get going again tomorrow – training is good but games are simply the best."

…how much the Werkself have taken in his playing philosophy: "We'll see tomorrow. (he laughs) Matches are always the final result of what you've worked on during the week. Two weeks wasn't very long, that's obvious, for everything to go completely to plan tomorrow. But it is an advantage that many of the players have already worked under Roger Schmidt – my approach is similar."

…his first weeks at Leverkusen: "My first weeks were what we call in Holland 'the honeymoon period' – everything's brilliant, everything's great. But now the second half of the season is starting and the first players will be disappointed not to be in the starting eleven or in the squad. Of course, we could get some negative results. It will definitely be different now. But my first weeks were very good, not just with the players but also the staff. Highly qualified people are working here and everyone wants to get to the top and everyone wants to play top football. They give me the support a head coach needs."

…expectations for the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach: "They're doing a very good job at Gladbach and that was evident in the first half of the season. They have good individual players. But so do we and that's why I'm expecting a very interesting and attractive game tomorrow."

…the personnel situation for the Gladbach game: "In Panos Retsos and Joel Pohjanpalo we have two players with long-term injuries. They are on the way back but it will take a couple of weeks. Otherwise all the other players are fit.

…the differences in his daily work compared with Borussia Dortmund: "Every club is different – all the clubs I've worked with up to now were different. The most important thing is always the people as they make a club – and here the people are different from those in Dortmund or Amsterdam. And the players are different. But at the end of the day it is football – our training sessions, our week, our processes at the same. We try to develop the players and develop our style of play with them."

…memories of the 6-1 victory for him in September 2017 In the league game between Dortmund and Gladbacht: "No, I don't think about that. Of course, we played a good game then but Dortmund and Bayer 04 are two different teams and there have been changes at Gladbach as well. In football you can't expect something like that to happen again."

…consistency: "Being consistent is possibly the most difficult element in football, above all when you work with young players: Young players can play very well and a week later that's not the case – they have to gain experience first to be able to play consistently at all times. It's not easy. We try  to develop our players in a number of areas – and one of those is consistency."