The season progresses game by game for Peter Stöger. The Viennese will rendezvous with the Yellow Wall on Saturday, though not as an adversary ("I found the wall overwhelming then"), but as Borussia Dortmund's new manger, who will preside over his second game with BVB on what will be his seventh day working at the club.

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"There aren't enough hours in the day right now", suggested Stöger today. But the manner in which he spoke the words reflected his outer appearance: that of someone at peace with himself. "I'm really looking forward to this home game." 

The 2-0 win in Mainz on Tuesday evening is continuing to have an effect, even though "not everything [went] optimally" on the pitch of course. Stöger spoke of "a win that has done the team good, meaning the players are calmer and more confident. The mood here is a little more relaxed after the win. We hope that we can keep that going."

In a so-called "English week" (week with a mid-week round of fixtures) that will follow the pattern recovery, pre-match training session, game, recovery and pre-match training session, there was a more typical session on Thursday during which Stöger was able to work more intensively with the team, "speak about one or two things and include them as part of this short training period." 

Consequently, the line-up will also be selected less on the basis of sound knowledge, but more according to gut-feeling, something that certainly did not let him down during his successful debut. There may be slight changes with regard to both tactics and personnel since it is important for the Viennese that the players are never really allowed to feel "comfortable". There remains a limited selection of players: on Tuesday, after Schürrle and Sancho had been rendered unavailable due to injury, a total of ten players were missing. Stöger said in that regard: "I had a really good team at my disposal in Mainz."

Stöger sees the fact "that we have already analysed Hoffenheim" before facing TSG while he was still at Cologne as a "small plus" in their preparations for the game on Saturday, though this doesn't detract from the reality that they face "no simple task". Hoffenheim, he states, are "really good, really dangerous".

The manager was questioned at the press conference whether he was thinking about "spreading the workload" for the fifth game within 14 days, in other words, whether the cup game this coming Wednesday would cause him to rotate. Stöger looked up briefly before answering: "I am not thinking about Munich at all. The match against Hoffenheim is much too important." 
Boris Rupert

BVB total!-Video: The complete press conference prior to the game against Hoffenheim with Peter Stöger