FIRST TEAM
12/13/2016

Eugen Polanski: “We need to stop Dortmund”

Eugen Polanski moved to TSG almost four years ago. Since then, the captain has made 118 competitive appearances, being both a leader on and off the pitch. Ahead of the Bundesliga clash against Borussia Dortmund, Polanski speaks about the season so far, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann, as well as both games against Dortmund and Werder Bremen.

You’ve now gone 14 Bundesliga games without losing. You would have definitely taken that at the start of the season wouldn’t you?

Eugen Polanski: Not necessarily. Let’s say we drew all fourteen games, we wouldn’t be on many points. But we are happy with where we are currently placed in the table. A run like ours is often about the finer details and we have also had a little bit luck here and there. We still need to keep working hard, however, because a good place in the table won’t be handed to us on a plate.

Is there anything in particular from the last 14 games that particularly stands out to you?

Polanski: That you always have to give 100%. Anything less is not good enough in the Bundesliga. You always have to perform at your maximum. We are versatile both in terms of personnel and our tactics. Altogether that makes us a tricky opponent for other teams. This flexibility is definitely key.

You still have to play Dortmund and Bremen at home. What needs to happen for you to go into the winter break feeling happy?

Polanski: In terms of football, we really want to pick up points in the next two games.

Thomas Tuchel was your coach when you were at Mainz. Are there actually similarities between him and Julian Nagelsmann?

Polanski: They are neither the same as coaches, nor as people, but of course there are parallels. To be frank, both work very hard and meticulously in training to make sure that we always have several solutions for a specific situation ready to use on the pitch at the weekend.

Borussia Dortmund are not very consistent. What do you think of Tomas Tuchel’s team?

Polanski: They’ve had a few dips in form this season, but I think that’s completely normal when you’re playing in the Champions League. They’ve had a few injured players this season and that’s definitely had an impact. They can’t rotate their squad as much as they’d like to. Dortmund are a good young team with a lot of tempo. We have to take that into account on Friday otherwise we’ll find things difficult.

What are you expecting from the game on Friday?

Polanski: It will definitely be necessary to put on our best performance in order to beat them. Dortmund will really put up a fight. I’m sure that it’s going to be a great game for the fans, hopefully with a good result in the end for us.

 

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