'Two teams with very different ways of playing'

…the opponents SC Freiburg: "Tomorrow, two teams face each other with very different ways of playing. That could make the game into a very interesting proposition – not just for the spectators but also for the coaches.  The question for us is how we handle a playing philosophy that's completely different to ours? On top of that, Freiburg have been on top of their game in recent weeks as you could clearly see against Augsburg (5-1 win, ed.) – it was a very convincing win. So it definitely won't be easy tomorrow." 

…on the away coach Christian Streich: "You have to have a lot of respect for him. It's something very special in modern football  to have a coach at one club for so long. That's no coincidence, the man has qualities."

…on the availability of Lars Bender (back in full training after recovering from a hamstring injury, ed.) and Karim Bellarabi (hamstring, ed.): "Lars and Karim won't be in the squad this week. Lars is training with the team again but training  and being able to play are two different things. With Karim, we knew he'd be out for a bit longer but he's making very good progress and is also training outside again."

…on progress with Panos Retsos and Joel Pohjanpalo: "They've both been able to train outdoors but that doesn't mean that they can play. They'll need a bit of time as they've been out for so long. But I'm happy they're back on the training ground."

…on the question of whether six points are on the cards against SC Freiburg and the following opponents Hannover 96: "I only ever take it game by game. Hannover is still a long way ahead. Our focus is solely on the Freiburg game – we have a home match that we definitely want to win.  I never count on the points because you have to battle to get them and you have to earn it.  That's why I'm always focused on how we do it, that is our way of  playing."

…on the compliments after the impressive performance in the game against Dortmund in spite of the 3-2 defeat: "I think we deserved to win given the way we played. Unfortunately that didn't happen. I'd rather have it the other  way round because at the end of the day it's all about points in football. We did a lot of things very well but in other areas we weren't so good otherwise we would have won at Dortmund. We try to learn from every game and keep on improving. Nevertheless, we should go into the game against Freiburg with increased confidence.

…on carnival: "Unfortunately we've got a game otherwise I might have celebrated carnival for five days. Or perhaps not. (he laughs) I have to admit that I've celebrated carnival in Düsseldorf in the past when I wasn't coaching. I really liked it. My friends were here last night. And who knows, if we didn't have a game I might very well have gone along too. Carnival is fun but I'm not thinking about that at the moment. Tomorrow's game is much more important for us. We'll try to win because we want to climb up the table. Therefore the focus is solely on this game. Not just with me as the coach but also with the players."