Serge Gnabry: “We want to push on after the Leipzig game”

Serge, hand on heart, how often would you score that goal again?

Serge Gnabry: “Probably not often! You don’t get those opportunities much and I think that was the last goal I scored like that in a while. The situation has to be right – I just went for it. I might have made a career as kicker in an American football team, but in Germany, football is number one! (laughs)”

How pleased would you be to win goal of the month?

Gnabry: “Goals from that distance don’t happen very often and so they always have a good chance of winning. Goal of the Month is a great award with a long history and I would be delighted to win it for the second time.” (Gnabry also won the acclamation for a volley against Borussia Mönchengladbach in September 2016 when he played for Werder Bremen).

The 4-0 victory came after a difficult week with defeats to Braga and Hamburg. Has a new leaf been turned?

Gnabry: “It was an incredibly important win. I think you could see from the start that we wanted three points at all cost. We pushed ourselves and were very aggressive off the ball. It was a clear improvement on past weeks. We’ve conceded late in a lot of games recently and that’s tough for your confidence. In some ways the Leipzig game was more of a battle than a display of our best football, but maybe that was exactly what we needed.”

You’ve been out injured for a while, but also waiting for your first TSG goal. How difficult is it to sit on the sidelines?

Gnabry: “Very difficult. There’s nothing worse than having to watch your team and not be able to help them, to not be able to train properly, to not be able to push yourself and improve. Complaining doesn’t help anyone though – you’ve just got to keep on going.”

On Thursday, Hoffenheim play Rasgrad, although you’re already out of the Europa League…

Gnabry: “We’ll approach the game like any other. We want to leave the competition with a win and get three points for the fans. We’ll give 100%.”

There are three big games against Hannover, Stuttgart and Dortmund before the winter break. What are your aims for those games?

Gnabry: “We want to win every one. There’s a lot to play for. We want to push on after the Leipzig game and keep on picking up points. It will be important to be aggressive – like against Leipzig – and establish our game plan on the pitch. Winning the three games is very doable. We could start a strong run before the end of the year.”

Hannover is the first task in the league. What do you expect from that game?

Gnabry: “Hannover have dropped off a bit recently, but that doesn’t mean anything for our game on Sunday. They will come out and give everything, so we won’t underestimate them – even if they haven’t picked up many points in their past matches. I’m expecting a strong team who want to show that they can maintain their form from the beginning of the season.”

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