Ten Hag ahead of #SVWB04: “Clear goal is a win” before international break

“You need to win every game you play. We want a good performance against Werder. The clear goal is a win. We’ve had an intense, good week with lots of training sessions – we needed that. We were able to work on lots of things and are now looking forward to the match,” said Ten Hag at Friday’s pre-match press conference.

Ten Hag: “Will give our best”

Asked about the 2-1 loss to Hoffenheim in the opening game and lessons from that, the Dutchman stated: “We can do a lot of things better – we know that and also showed that in some of our pre-season games. We were more compact, more dynamic. But we lacked that dynamism against Hoffenheim. We’ve worked on that. We’ve spoken about the reasons and corrected them. We need to implement them tomorrow.”

Speaking about Werder, who have won just one of their last 10 meetings with the Werkself, the boss added: “Bremen have a good and experienced coach. He did great work previously with Elversberg. They have a lot of new and exciting players and clear structures. We’ll give our best.”

Updates on new signings

Asked about new signings Lucas Vázquez, Loïc Badé and Claudio Echeverri, Ten Hag explained: “Lucas isn’t ready to start. He played the Club World Cup last month and is now building back up. He’s only been here a few days and has only done some parts of training with the team. The same goes for Loïc, who was injured and has only been in full training for a few days. Claudio has done every session this week and taken some steps forward.”

In terms of Exequiel Palacios, Jonas Hofmann and Malik Tillman, he added: “They haven’t trained all week but only some parts, but were fully involved yesterday. We’ve got final training today and will then see in terms of their involvement.”

Champions League draw

Ten Hag was also asked about yesterday's Champions League draw, saying: “We’ve got a good pool of top opponents. We’re excited about every game. It’ll be demanding, but it’s a great challenge. Obviously I’m excited about the game against Eindhoven. Peter Bosz and I know each other well. I once worked for Eindhoven and he here in Leverkusen.”

Speaking about the competition’s format, he added: “An advantage is that you get lots of top teams, which is great for the fans. For example, they can look forward to a home game against Paris Saint-German, the current Champions League holders. They didn’t finish the league phase in the top eight but still won. That’s a good example of how a team can develop. You don’t win the Champions League in the first weeks.”

3,800 travelling supporters

However, Ten Hag’s focus is first on Saturday’s game in Bremen. There will be great support for the Werkself with 3,800 fans from Leverkusen in attendance at the Weserstadion.