Press conference
15.09.16
"A real power game"
At the official pre-match press conference ahead of the first ever visit of RB Leipzig to the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg on Saturday (17.09.16, 3.30 PM) on Bundesliga matchday 3, home coach Bruno Labbadia spoke about team selection, his expectations from the game and in form USA striker Bobby Wood.
The weather has been hot in Hamburg this week, so the players have been sweating profusely during training. The sessions have been intense, aimed to shake off the dismal 1-3 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen last time out. All focus of of course now on Leipzig. Bruno Labbadia: “We have had a good week of training and are very much looking forward to our next home game.”
Labbadia on…
... team selection: Gideon Jung was able to fully train again for the first time yesterday. He is in good shape because he wasn’t out for very long. The question is whether he has the confidence required, although he made a good impression in training yesterday, his movement was fluid and good. Johan Djourou also had his first full session today although today’s session was not too strenuous. If Joe is feeling good after training tomorrow he will play on Saturday. Dennis Diekmeier has a partial tear in his calf muscle and will miss the next three games.
... his expectations from the visit of Leipzig: We look forward to an exciting game full of power and we cannot wait to get stuck in. As expected Leipzig have begun the season well. They have a good experienced side so their points tally after two games is not surprising. Their win over Borussia Dortmund will have given tzhem confidence but our goal is clear – to halt their positive run.
... conceding late goals: We played decently for 45 minutes against Ingolstadt and 70 minutes in Leverkusen. But we didn’t produce enough in the latter stages of those games and sometimes made wrong decisions. We have to learn when to hold the ball and when to release it to start counter attacks. Of course such things have been discussed with the players and we are working on it. It is crucial that certain players assume responsibility. With that I mean amongst others those who were recently voted in to represent the team.
... Bobby Wood: Bobby is a very quiet guy who will not go crazy after scoring twice in consecutive games. He is totally focused before and during games and we are of course happy that he has been able to reward himself with two goals so far. He is a very hard working striker who can hold up the ball and clinically take his chances. We have been going a little easy on him this week after his travels with his national team. He didn’t train at all yesterday. He shook off his jet lag against Leverkusen. Leverkusen was intense and that after travelling all those miles. The reduction in training has done him well.
... Bakery Jatta: I cannot say whether Jatta will be with us or the reserves for whom he played very well on Friday. We want to carefully build him up and have given him an exact plan. He is ever-improving and has partially ironed out the mistakes he was making. We will assess his progress from game to game before deciding when to play him again. It is crucial for him to gather match practice.