In their pre-match press conference before the upcoming visit of Eintracht Frankfurt, Lucien Favre and Michael Zorc discussed the team's recent performances, the personnel situation and also shared a piece of positive news.

Head coach Lucien Favre and sporting director Michael Zorc chose to get Wednesday's pre-match press conference underway with a piece of good news: ''Achraf Hakimi is in Madrid. He's just become the father of a baby boy. The whole family are doing well. He's scheduled to return to Dortmund tomorrow,'' shared Zorc. That wasn't the only update on the personnel front: Favre announced that Emre Can underwent an individual training session on Wednesday. ''He should be able to rejoin his teammates tomorrow,'' added the head coach. 

''The only solution is hard work''

Favre and Zorc also took time to address the team's poor defensive record in recent weeks: ''We've conceded too many goals, we're well aware of that. The only solution is hard work, hard work and then some more hard work. We were very disappointed with how the match in Leverkusen turned out, but now we have to look ahead at what's to come. We need to maintain a positive mentality and keep having faith in our ability to improve. But it takes time, and it's something that will only happen step by step,'' said Favre. Zorc was equally unflinching in his assessment of the team's recent shortcomings: ''We're conceding too many goals, and too often it means we're shooting ourselves in the foot. There have been a lot of games this season that I've felt we really ought to have won. But at the end of the day, we've let our opponents score cheap goals and we've not ended up getting the result we deserved. We've certainly been scoring enough goals.'' The expectations Zorc has for the team moving forward are clear: ''We need all the players to be fully switched on in defence. It's something we need to fine tune.'' 

''Defence starts from the front''

Favre isn't just focused on his defensive players: ''When we concede too many goals, it's not just the defence that's to blame - it's the whole team. Defence starts from the front. We need to improve all round!'' When asked whether or not the mood in the dressing room had been affected by recent results, Favre responded: ''Of course we were all gutted after the Leverkusen match. We knew that we should have won, or at the very least got a point from, the game. But there was a brilliant atmosphere among the team in training today.'' Friday's fixture is the 94th Bundesliga meeting between Dortmund and Frankfurt. Of these encounters, the Black & Yellows have won 44, drawn 19 and lost 30. 

BVB-TV: Lucien Favre and Michael Zorc's pre-match press conference