In a chat with media representatives, captain Marco Reus reflected on his injury, the state of play and the objectives for the second half of the season.

Marco Reus on the first training sessions:
"We're training very intensively. The conditions suit us wonderfully. We need to lay the foundations here for the very good second half-season we want to have, because we have lots of catching up to do."

…the state of play:
"We need to work on many areas: the intensity of our play on and off the ball, challenges, defending, set-pieces. The coach has spoken to us about all this in the last few days. We have to compete with a different intensity and impose our game. We want to bring back the desire to win, defend and score goals. Whenever we've done that, we've tended to look good. We need to show that on an ongoing basis. There have been too many games in which we've had inconsistencies."

…his physical condition:
"I've been out for two or three months again. The story has been slightly more complicated and taken longer. It therefore hasn't been an easy period because there have been repeated setbacks. I did a lot during the Christmas period and before that in order to get myself to a good level. But individual training and team training are two completely different things. It takes you a few days to get accustomed to it. I'm happy to be back with the team and catching up on things that I've missed, in terms of conditioning and intensity. The training camp is doing me a lot of good now. My legs feel heavy. It should be that way so that I'm 100% fit to face Augsburg." 

…the returnees:
"I believe that we have more depth and quality in the squad as a result, and it increases the competition for places. From the first day, from the first game, we need to catch up from the back of the grid. There will be no excuses."

… Sebastien Haller:
"I get goosebumps when I think about the fact that he's back on the pitch. We were so happy to see him come back. We all saluted his fighting spirit. The way that he has come back mentally is very strong. He is training fully with us and has a little bit of catching-up to do, but he's getting through it completely and it's a lot of fun to be back on the pitch with him. In the long-term, he will offer us an alternative with his play that we perhaps don't yet have. We will do well to take it slowly and give him time until he has rediscovered his rhythm. That will take a little while." 
Christina Reinke

BVB-TV by 1&1: Media round with Marco Reus