Saturday, August 17, 2013

Klopp slams international schedule


The 46-year-old coach has voiced his frustration with the absence of numerous first team players throughout the week

Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp has hit out at the timing of this week's international fixtures after being left with a depleted squad ahead of this weekend's Bundesliga match against Eintracht Braunschweig.

The 46-year-old had just six first-team regulars at training this week, with most of his squad away on international duty, and Klopp is upset his side's preparations for Sunday's game have been so disjointed.


"The date of the international match was totally
useless only one week after the first Bundesliga match," Klopp said at a press conference.

"You get used to it, but that is why in the future it won't be there anymore.

"We still had six players because Miki (Henrikh Mkhitaryan) and Robert [Lewandowski] stayed and then Owo (free agent Patrick Owomoyela) came as guest player, so it was seven.

"We could fill the rest with amateurs, even though many of them haven't been here either. It worked well.

"A disadvantage, though, is that you cannot do anything tactical as a team. But I count on the long-term memory of my players.''

Klopp then went on to discuss Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored a hat-trick on his league debut for Dortmund against Augsburg last weekend, and he insisted that he does not want the Gabon international to feel under pressure to recreate last week's explosive impact.

He added: "There is no reason at all to create a situation of pressure out of an extremely positive situation.

"To say if you don't score three times next time, then it is already worse than in Augsburg, would be wrong. It was exceptional.

"Three goals are not common and it is so positive that I was happy to help him see this situation only in a positive way, and he dealt with it very well.

"But I didn't expect anything else; he didn't run around with his arms up the whole week. Totally normal, he practised, he tried his best and he knows he has to work to keep his shape or to make it even better.

"There are lots of things we can work on with him but a lot is already there and that makes it so exciting."

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