“I feel very good” – a fit Waldemar Anton reports from training camp | OneFootball

“I worked hard in my free time and followed my rehabilitation plan, which was also quite demanding. I’ve made a good comeback and am fit again,” said Anton, who completed an individual training session with Aaron Anselmino after arriving on Friday. But yesterday, manager Niko Kovac hinted at his imminent return to team training. “I’ll be back with the team in the next few days. I'm not worried about Friday,” explained the defender. On Friday, BVB want to pick up their first points of the new year in their away game in Frankfurt – preferably with Waldemar Anton involved. He also said the following about ...

...the work at training camp:“Of course, we have a few issues that we will and must work on. The fitness level of all the lads is very, very good. Hopefully, we won’t have to work on that too much, and instead focus on tactical elements, on set pieces. You can work on things like that when you have such a good atmosphere.”

…the offensive playing style:“These are also issues that we are dealing with and have dealt with before. I think we create good opportunities at moments in every game, including through good attacking moves. It’s normal that we still need to fine-tune a few things, and that’s okay. We simply didn’t have that much training time in the past. That’s why these are issues that we definitely want to work on here at the training camp.”

...his goals:“Just to remain consistent. Staying injury-free is very important. As a team, we want to continue to develop. For me, how we approach games is also a crucial issue. We’ve had a lot of games where we’ve conceded a goal in the last seconds and then dropped points. These are issues that occupy my thoughts and that we want to work on. I want to continue to lead by example.”

…external criticism:“We know that we had games that we should have won. Nevertheless, we didn’t lose them either. Of course, there is enormous pressure here, that’s clear. That’s good for us players, because diamonds are moulded through pressure. We want to continue to march ahead. We are now second, we have more points than last season. We have already achieved some of the goals we set ourselves, small goals. Now it’s about continuing to perform. There is no great unrest from within. We now have two games left in the first half of the season, which are very, very important. We can take a huge step forward. We are second and have had a good, stable first half of the season so far.”

... the young players Mussa Kaba, Mathis Albert and Samuele Inacio:“First and foremost, it’s about the lads giving it their all. The most important thing is that they have confidence and play just like they do in the U23s or U19s. They should have fun and get involved. That's very, very important. As older players, we will of course help them too.”

… the daily routine at the training camp:“Nothing special, really: breakfast, then off to the first training session. You train, you recover. Now you have a few minutes to yourself, then it’s back to the second training session. The focus is on work. You have to work hard over these few days. That’s the only focus. Of course, we’ll have a day off now and then, but I think the most important thing is that we train well and recover well. There will also be moments when we can laugh together. It’s also important to talk about the situation, to talk a lot about the next few months. We have a good atmosphere here.”

… leisure activities in Marbella:“We really enjoy playing poker. We’ll definitely be doing that over the next few days. There’s a pool table. We have darts here. We have a lot of darts fans who are really good, Maxi Beier and Karim Adeyemi, for example. Table tennis is also always very popular.”Transcribed by Christina Reinke