‘Expectation and demands’: Feifel reviews record year for Women's team

Achim, the Bayer 04 Women have had a historic season and are just over halfway through the new campaign. How would you sum things up the end of the year?

Feifel: We can be very satisfied with what we achieved  last season. That applies to the development of the team, but also to the points and the resulting position in the table. It's clear this has led to a certain level of expectation and demands on ourselves. However, it was also clear that it would not be easy to follow this successful path without any hurdles on the way. We made a very good start to the new season, beginning with a strong performance at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Unfortunately, after a few wins, there was a slight dip. It's very important in this league to always keep your feet on the ground. The competition is getting bigger and bigger and it's becoming apparent that a broad field of teams are playing for third place - and we're one of them. All in all, we are neither jubilant nor dissatisfied after this Hinrunde, but we want to look positively to the future and we have established a position we can build on.

How do you rate the development of the new players?

Feifel: Carlotta Wamser was a driving force for the team until her injury. Her absence has hurt us a lot in recent weeks, which says a lot about her role. Vanessa Fudalla has also hit the ground running and has confirmed the form she’s shown in Leipzig over the past few years with her many goals and assist. Claudia Wenger fitted in well until her slight injury problems and brought additional stability to the centre of defence. Valentina Mädl was only slowly able to get back into the rhythm of competition after months out injured before joining us. We are already pleased with her development, and hopefully even more will be possible in the Rückrunde.

What does the team currently need to do to perform more consistently and get closer to the top teams?

Feifel: We are one of the teams that cross the ball the most and have the most shots on goal. However, our efficiency in finishing has come up short recently. That's why we need to be even more creative and create more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities. In defence, we've made a few mistakes recently that shouldn't happen in the Bundesliga. That's another area where we need to improve.

What is the focus of squad planning over the short term, but also beyond that?

Feifel: Squad planning is an ongoing process that cannot be tied to a specific transfer window. We regularly discuss the development of the team and individual players. The squad is stable enough that we don't necessarily have to make any changes in the winter to remain successful. We will only do something if, for example, a transfer planned for the summer can be brought forward. It remains our goal to further strengthen the squad in terms of quality so that we can better compensate for fluctuations in performance and injury-related absences. The extended absences of Friederike Repohl, Cornelia Kramer and Carlotta Wamser hit us hard in the first half of the season. We want to be able to compensate for such absences over a longer period of time in future.