New manager, new fortunes? For Matthias Ginter, this appears to be the case. The World Cup winner of Borussia Dortmund has started the new season under Thomas Tuchel with a boom in the unfamiliar position of right back. The 21-year-old proved himself last week in the strange 4-3 victory in the Europa League away to Odds BK, where the second half saw him move from centre back to right back. In the 4-0 win against FC Ingolstadt on Sunday, Ginter performed solidly at full back for the whole 90 minutes and put the icing on the cake with his first Bundesliga goal.
Ahead of the second leg of the qualifier with Odds Ballklubb on Thursday (20:30 CEST), Matthias Ginter spoke to DFB.de about his new role, qualification for the Europa League, and the winning streak with top of the table Dortmund.
Matthias Ginter on…
... his role as a right back: In Norway I played at right back in a competitive game for the first time. It’s a mixture of defensive midfield and centre back, so I’m quite comfortable there, since I’ve played in both other positions for us. It’s not been too difficult to adapt at all.
… The challenges of playing in the complex position of right back: In terms of athleticism and running, there’s not quite the long stretches which are required in defensive midfield, but also not the short, quick ones you make at centre back. In terms of on the ball, it’s similar to centre back: you’ve got the whole game in front of you, having said that there is more to do than at centre back, so in that respect it is more similar to defensive midfield.
… his future in the new position: Both right backs are currently out injured. We’ll see what happens when they’re back – that’s for the manager to decide. Like I say; I feel comfortable in that position, and would actually like to play there more often.
… the significance of the Europa League: I see qualification for the Europa League as very important. They’re international games. A lot of big clubs take part, especially in the knock-out stages when the third placed teams from the Champions League groups join in. But I look forward to every international game, regardless.
… the lessons learnt from the first leg against Odds BK: Unfortunately we slept through the start of that game. So the most important lesson we can take from it is to stay alert from the first whistle. That counts for every game, but especially for Thursday’s. Aside from that, we know how they like to play: with lots of long balls that get flicked on for the forwards to run on to. As well as that, they’re strong in the fifty-fifty, it’s going to be a very, very tough task in the second leg.
… the turnaround in the first leg to win 4-3 after being 3-0 down:It shows that we have the quality in our front line to always score four goals in the remaining hour or so. It gives us great confidence in ourselves to turn a game around, should we ever be trailing by a goal or two in future.
… the advantages of the home leg in front of 63,000 fans: We want to force our game onto the opposition and do what we always do. The fans will follow by themselves, and get right behind us. It’s first and foremost up to us to turn up and show Odds as quickly as possible that they won’t get anything from us at home.
… the goalkeeper rotation between Roman Weidenfeller and Roman Bürki: That doesn’t affect us as a team, nor does it really affect the defenders. Only that one is left-footed and the other is right-footed. Both of them have their qualities, and it’s good to have two such good goalkeepers in the squad.
…the six competitive game winning streak: Every win gives us confidence in its own way – for the whole team and for everyone at the club. The biggest problem last season was that we couldn’t find any consistency. This season has gone really, really well so far. That’s how we need to continue: playing with consistency and dominating games, and obviously winning where we can.
…being on par with the top Bundesliga clubs: We’re only two weeks in, so it’s too early to make informed predictions. Of course we’re pleased to have won all our games. But we know how much hard work is behind it all, and how much we have to give in order to play like this and win these games. It probably is an advantage over the other teams that we’ve already had a few competitive games and have found our rhythm. But the other teams have got a lot of quality
[mmc/dw]
New manager, new fortunes? For Matthias Ginter, this appears to be the case. The World Cup winner of Borussia Dortmund has started the new season under Thomas Tuchel with a boom in the unfamiliar position of right back. The 21-year-old proved himself last week in the strange 4-3 victory in the Europa League away to Odds BK, where the second half saw him move from centre back to right back. In the 4-0 win against FC Ingolstadt on Sunday, Ginter performed solidly at full back for the whole 90 minutes and put the icing on the cake with his first Bundesliga goal.
Ahead of the second leg of the qualifier with Odds Ballklubb on Thursday (20:30 CEST), Matthias Ginter spoke to DFB.de about his new role, qualification for the Europa League, and the winning streak with top of the table Dortmund.
Matthias Ginter on…
... his role as a right back: In Norway I played at right back in a competitive game for the first time. It’s a mixture of defensive midfield and centre back, so I’m quite comfortable there, since I’ve played in both other positions for us. It’s not been too difficult to adapt at all.
… The challenges of playing in the complex position of right back: In terms of athleticism and running, there’s not quite the long stretches which are required in defensive midfield, but also not the short, quick ones you make at centre back. In terms of on the ball, it’s similar to centre back: you’ve got the whole game in front of you, having said that there is more to do than at centre back, so in that respect it is more similar to defensive midfield.
… his future in the new position: Both right backs are currently out injured. We’ll see what happens when they’re back – that’s for the manager to decide. Like I say; I feel comfortable in that position, and would actually like to play there more often.
… the significance of the Europa League: I see qualification for the Europa League as very important. They’re international games. A lot of big clubs take part, especially in the knock-out stages when the third placed teams from the Champions League groups join in. But I look forward to every international game, regardless.
… the lessons learnt from the first leg against Odds BK: Unfortunately we slept through the start of that game. So the most important lesson we can take from it is to stay alert from the first whistle. That counts for every game, but especially for Thursday’s. Aside from that, we know how they like to play: with lots of long balls that get flicked on for the forwards to run on to. As well as that, they’re strong in the fifty-fifty, it’s going to be a very, very tough task in the second leg.
… the turnaround in the first leg to win 4-3 after being 3-0 down:It shows that we have the quality in our front line to always score four goals in the remaining hour or so. It gives us great confidence in ourselves to turn a game around, should we ever be trailing by a goal or two in future.
… the advantages of the home leg in front of 63,000 fans: We want to force our game onto the opposition and do what we always do. The fans will follow by themselves, and get right behind us. It’s first and foremost up to us to turn up and show Odds as quickly as possible that they won’t get anything from us at home.
… the goalkeeper rotation between Roman Weidenfeller and Roman Bürki: That doesn’t affect us as a team, nor does it really affect the defenders. Only that one is left-footed and the other is right-footed. Both of them have their qualities, and it’s good to have two such good goalkeepers in the squad.
…the six competitive game winning streak: Every win gives us confidence in its own way – for the whole team and for everyone at the club. The biggest problem last season was that we couldn’t find any consistency. This season has gone really, really well so far. That’s how we need to continue: playing with consistency and dominating games, and obviously winning where we can.
…being on par with the top Bundesliga clubs: We’re only two weeks in, so it’s too early to make informed predictions. Of course we’re pleased to have won all our games. But we know how much hard work is behind it all, and how much we have to give in order to play like this and win these games. It probably is an advantage over the other teams that we’ve already had a few competitive games and have found our rhythm. But the other teams have got a lot of quality
