Volland: "We will get space and chances"

Kevin, you have taken a knock and didn’t play the last game against Graz. What’s on your mind and how are you at the moment?

Kevin Volland: Yeah, I’m good. There are no problems but I twinged my thigh in South Africa a bit. Everything’s fine now and I did two full training sessions with the team on Tuesday without any problems. I should be fit for Saturday."

Preparation for the second half of the season has been very short. Has the team had enough time to work on their form?

Volland: It has been short for everyone else too. We’ve had 19 days but we have used them to effect and worked on fitness as well as made tactical progress. We’ve completed our programme. One training game was cancelled in South Africa because of a storm, but we made up for it with a game between ourselves. The training sessions were tiring and intensive but good and I think we got lots from them.

Let’s have a quick look back at the first half of the season. You weren’t happy with your performances. What must you do better?

Volland: I actually started quite well, got some goals in early and scored a brace twice in a row but we had some bad games. In the last few games I felt a bit tired, mentally and physically. I felt the same in the U21 European Championship in the summer. I missed the part of the winter break where we worked on fitness, but I recharged my batteries during the interval and spent two weeks with my family in which I could just switch off. Now it is time to get back to winning ways, loosen up, go at defenders and be cool in front of goal. 

On Saturday you get back to the Bundesliga, playing against Bayer Leverkusen. Are you excited to start up again despite your position in the table?

Volland: Of course. That anticipation is felt by every club though. We’re getting back into everyday business and want to find our rhythm. We need to get into game mode, that’s what we’ve been working on. Apart from that, we just want to get off the bottom and correct the things that have gone wrong up until now as quickly as possible.

On the first matchday, you went 1-0 up against Leverkusen after five minutes. How much good would an early goal do you again?

Volland: A lot of good. It would be especially good for the confidence of the team. But one goal is just that. At the start of the season we went into the lead a few times but left the pitch having lost the game. We took our feet off the gas and lost the lead. That’s not good enough and will not be allowed to happen. We have to keep going for another goal and stay concentrated the full 90 minutes. We rarely succeeded in doing that in the first half. We have hardly once made the most of our chances over 90 minutes.

What do you expect from Bayer Leverkusen?

Volland: They are a very strong team – especially the way they turn defence into attack and their pressing. They have two very dangerous strikers in Kießling and Chicharito. It would however, be silly to put our full concentration on those two. There’s always Calhanoglu, Bellarabi and others who can get goals. We competed with Leverkusen in the first game and we can do again. It will be a difficult game and they will demand everything of us, but we can take something. Their style will give a bit of space and chances. We need to take those.

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