“We want to do our best in every respect”

… team news: As we’ve already said, Douglas Santos is out for the game in Heidenheim. Hee-chan Hwang took part in full training today and is fit to play. He’s a very good option for us. He can’t play 90 minutes, but he could start or come off the bench. Julian Pollersbeck is also fit and can play.

… the upcoming opponent: Heidenheim are a very compact and physically strong team, who defend very close to you. They’re strongest on the wings. They won against Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal and they’ve picked up a lot of points in the Rückrunde. We know that it’s one of our toughest games, but we have the chance to pick something up there if we play very well. We have to play at a high level for the whole game. The expectation is that we play our best game in every respect. 

… the situation with the full-backs: We have several options. Khaled Narey can play at right-back. On the left side, Josha Vagnoman operates differently than Douglas. He’s putting in very consistent performances in training and has power. He was unlucky in Bielefeld, but he was good after he came on against Dresden.

… his coaches’ contract extensions: It’s really worked since day one. It’s a great group. Andre Kilian and Maik Goebbels really add something and know what they’re doing. The club judged it well that this could work. I want to carry on with the guys. They’re very much appreciated within the club, so it’s a good thing that they’ve both extended their contracts.