On September 5th, Borussia Dortmund coach Kovac attended a press conference ahead of their Bundesliga match against Hoffenheim.

Below is the first part of the press conference.

How is the team's personnel situation currently? How is Bensebaini recovering?

Kovac: Bensebaini trained with the team for the first time today, but the intensity of today's training was not high. We are currently at day minus two before the match, so the training intensity is relatively low, and there is less physical contact. Everything is progressing well so far.

We will see how he recovers tomorrow. He has made some progress, but of course, he is still a long way from being ready to play in a Bundesliga match. We will decide tomorrow whether his current recovery level is sufficient for him to be an option for the weekend's match.

The others are basically in the same condition and are not yet fully ready to play. Enzo also trained with the team for the first time today with only light training, and the same goes for Moussa. However, they are certainly not yet recovered enough to compete for a spot on the matchday squad.

Schlotterbeck has resumed ball training this week, which I think should make the fans very happy. Can you tell us about his current situation? What is his recovery plan for the next few weeks? When will he be an option for the team again?

Kovac: Yes, Schlotterbeck has started training on the pitch. Of course, all training is currently individual, still without opponents, and not with teammates. In the next few days, we will see if we can gradually increase his training volume and let him reintegrate into team training little by little. Of course, our goal is to get him back to the team as quickly as possible, but there must be no recurrence of injury or setback in his recovery, which we want to avoid. Therefore, we will be very cautious in gradually bringing him back.

However, I hope – I cannot guarantee – I hope we can get him back to full team training within the next one to two weeks. At that point, he will also be an option. Of course, as you know, he will be suspended for the Champions League match anyway, right?

Nwaneri is now on your roster. What are your expectations for him? I think your club knew him quite early and scouted him extensively, so you know him very well. What can he bring to the team? Also, what is his current condition? How quickly can he truly become a help to you?

Kovac: First of all, after Constanțelias' injury brought us great disappointment, we are very happy that we were able to find a very good replacement so quickly. Of course, I also want to praise our scouting department, and specifically mention Ricken and Buck. This was obviously a very difficult task, but we ultimately succeeded. I want to congratulate these people.

He is a physically strong player. Theoretically, and perhaps even practically, he could play immediately. He is a U21 player and indeed has very excellent technical abilities. We observed this in training today. In position training, we saw that he is a player who knows very well how to use the ball and how to deal with it. So I am very satisfied.

Of course, now we need to give him a crash course in such a short time, to let him understand how we want the team to play, and what we want to do with and without the ball. However, there are enough competent people in our club's coaching staff and personnel to explain these things to him in such a short time. But I am really happy that we were able to sign him. Because as you know, we had actually considered him in the past few weeks and months, including last season, but it didn't work out then. Now it has finally succeeded.

After winning the German Cup, you talked about trying a four-back system. First, how do you feel about this attempt? Also, is this an option when facing a stronger opponent like Hoffenheim? Or do you still need to continue practicing it in training, and even refine it further during the winter break preparations?

Kovac: Yes, I think we did well. Of course, we don't want to overinterpret this match. The opponent was a German fifth-division team, and we knew they would sit very deep. Therefore, we wanted to be able to push an extra player forward in attack accordingly.

I think the team performed very well for 90 minutes. Everyone played very actively, was very focused and very concentrated, giving the opponent no room to breathe. In my own experience, it's always difficult against lower-league teams. But my team immediately showed the attitude of wanting to win from the first minute to the last.

So, yes, this reflects our flexibility and adaptability. We certainly won't discard this tactic and never use it again. We will keep this option and bring it out again when appropriate.

However, for now, we will first stick to what we are more familiar with. As you said, if this tactic is to be truly used in a match, it must be constantly tried and trained. We will do that, but it cannot be done all at once.

You let go of right-back Jan Koto, but ultimately did not bring in a replacement. This might be a matter of understanding. Do you feel there is a player missing in this position? Did you originally hope that the team could bring in another right-back?

Kovac: First of all, I still want to say overall that I am very satisfied with this transfer window. This is very important. So, all the responsible people involved in this work, we include them all. I think the club signed the right players, who can help us on different levels and can also bring a lot technically to the team.

This has certainly been visible in the first few matches, and this is exactly what we wanted.

As for the right-back position, we have Ryerson, and also Beyer, who can play on both flanks. In addition, there's Svensson, who can actually play almost every match because of his excellent endurance. He can basically play every day. So, I'm not worried about that. I just hope there are no injuries.

If we really have a need for personnel in this position, then I already have one or two solutions in my mind. We can find a way to have someone temporarily play in this position for a relatively short period.

Although there was a clear disparity in quality in Tuesday's match, you should have clearly seen the ability of Mathis-Albert. What do you think about his development prospects this season? He is also a young player that everyone can now expect to take the next step. Now, because Ignazio is suspended, there is a vacant spot for Saturday's match. Is he already a candidate to compete for this position?

Kovac: As I just said, I think the whole team did very well in terms of attitude, intensity, and focus. I personally told him that today as well. I am very satisfied with his performance.

He did what I wanted him to do, and what we wanted him to do. He is a very good one-on-one player, the kind of player who actively engages opponents, trying to neutralize them through one-on-one duels, or sometimes even one-on-two situations. Of course, there are still some areas where he can improve. But he is a young man who is developing. I have always said that players are only good or bad, not young or old.

If he continues to develop like this, he will get a lot of playing time this season. As for how many minutes that will be, of course, it also depends on himself and the competition within the team. But he will also continue to get opportunities in other matches, such as the Youth Champions League, cup matches, and of course possibly playing time in the second team.

The key is always for him to get playing time. But based on what I saw on Tuesday, he did very well. This is enough for him to remain in the first team squad and have reason to expect more playing time.

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