On September 5th, in the second round of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund will face Hoffenheim. Ahead of the match, Borussia Dortmund head coach Kovac attended the press conference.

Below is the second part of the press conference.

You just briefly summarized that you are very satisfied with this transfer window and the entire collaboration. I hope it's not too offensive to say this – you've been through several squad adjustments and transfer periods like this, but this is the first time Ricken has worked with you. What do you think of him? What aspects of him have left a particularly deep impression on you? How do you think his inclusion has supplemented, or even improved, your collaboration?

Kovac: First of all, I think this is very important. If I talk about this now, people should not deduce what happened in the past, neither here nor elsewhere in the club. This is important. This question is about Ricken. I think our collaboration is very, very good.

I feel that from the first day he arrived here, even from the moment he got here, he was thinking about these issues. He has been thinking about how we can strengthen the team. And he thinks about it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So I have to say, I don't even know if he's ever taken a day off. He should probably take a good rest in the next few days, or even weeks, because it must have been a lot of work for him. The last transfer alone was negotiated until very late at night. So, overall, the collaboration was very good.

Of course, at the level we are currently at, I think this is actually normal. Therefore, I am glad that everything could be completed so smoothly.

Precisely because of this, I would like to congratulate him again, and also congratulate Ricken.

A few weeks ago you told us here that you were in constant telephone contact with Klopp. You said that then, and I imagine that contact is still ongoing. The question now is, if you look at your transfer period, you'll find that all the players you've brought in are from abroad. This means that the connection between German football, or the German national team, and Borussia Dortmund players cannot be further expanded for now. What does this mean for Germany's second-largest club? Also, Klopp has recently started making training visits to various Bundesliga clubs. Did he tell you in advance that he would also be visiting you?

Kovac: To answer your last question first, no. Of course, we already have some German players who also participated in the World Cup. I believe those four players who participated in the World Cup will definitely reappear in the national team's training squad at some point in the future. Of course, this depends on the decision of the German national team coach and also on the players' injury situations. So I remain positive, and I believe my players will continue to be selected for the national team.

Now I have to think about whether we can sign anyone else. It might be a little more difficult, but this is actually the case for many clubs. Ultimately, there are many foreign players in big clubs, and the same is true here. Of course, if all the players in the team are internationals, it might not be particularly helpful for the German national team, but it might help other national teams. So ultimately, it's about quality.

We have excellent German internationals, while other excellent German internationals play for other top clubs.

Why is Hoffenheim's football so unpleasant and difficult to play against? How should you deal with such a team? You've probably been watching them for many years, perhaps since you coached in Austria. So, how effective has it been since Ilzer came to Hoffenheim and brought his Austrian style with him? Hoffenheim has transformed from a somewhat unstable team into a team that can now participate in European competitions.

Kovac: Yes, here again you can see that if you call Andreas Schicker, or rather, if you call Christian Ilzer, the most important thing is continuity. The two of them worked together like this before in Graz. This naturally takes time.

I know that you have very little time in the Bundesliga, but we can see how important it is to ultimately give someone time. You need to give him time to implement things, and you also need to give him the opportunity to experience transfer windows. And not just one transfer window, maybe two or three. Because only then can you gradually replace some players and change some things. Hoffenheim's football now is very intense, very aggressive, and also very focused on vertical attacking play. They are a team with strong running ability and very aggressive defending. This is actually consistent with their previous style in Austria. So, this will indeed make the game very difficult.

Of course, they lost their first game, but that doesn't mean our game will be easier as a result. On the contrary, I think the game will certainly be just as difficult. We can recall the past two years. Since I came here, we once won 3-2 near the end of a match. Last year we also had two matches against them, and both were decided by very small margins. So, these are very close matches. I think this Saturday will also be a very close match.

Ultimately, these matches are about details. The key is who can execute those details better, who can hold on a little longer and achieve a little more than the opponent. I hope that is us. Because I do think we had a very good start in the match against Hamburg, and that has given us momentum. We want to capitalize on that momentum.

As you just said, Hoffenheim is a very aggressive defensive team that presses high, and at the same time possesses good technical ability in attack. Is this a test for you? Not just for your team, but also for yourself – to see where we currently stand in terms of playing style and tactical development. Because if you look back at last season, you sometimes had difficulty against such opponents.

Kovac: Yes. Last season, we clearly dominated at home. But away games were much more difficult. Of course, this is always a new challenge, especially when you face a team participating in European competitions. They have proven their strength and have reinforced their squad well, without losing too many players. So from that perspective, we also have to prove ourselves. Of course, I also know that in the Bundesliga, points are the most important thing. And the start of the season is always very important.

All teams need to get into shape quickly, and so do we. No matter who our opponent is, we want to win every game. Whether it's away or at home, that's the case. So we will go to Hoffenheim with the goal of winning the game there.

To be precise, I'm thinking of your game against Stuttgart last season.

Kovac: But of course, we can also compare that to the games we played better in. Ultimately, it's always a process of development. We want to continue to improve in all areas. But we can't always just talk about the bad things. There were also many things that went very well.

At that time, Adeyemi did not participate in that game. We all know how important he is to us; he was important in the past, and he will continue to be very important in the future. Now we have signed another player who can help and relieve the burden on Adeyemi there. Of course, this is what I want to see.

We don't want the team to rely on a single player, nor do we want to rely only on Sancho. We want to remain flexible. We want to give different players the opportunity to play there because they have the corresponding abilities, and we want to rotate without compromising the quality of the team. That is the most crucial point. We will gradually see all of this throughout the season. Of course, I don't have a crystal ball, and I don't know what will happen in the future. I hope that the outcome will be as we both wish.

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