Alonso discusses defensive setup and transfer action
| Photo: Bayer 04 Leverkusen |
“Yes, that's correct. We weren't too compact and too passive, even during some phases in the first half. We need to do better in this respect.” Revealed Alonso after regarding his side not defending as compactly during their double-winning campaign.
Alonso also highlighted the impact of two of Gladbach's new arrivals, with both Tim Kleindienst and Kevin Stöger having a huge early impact at Borussia Park.
“It's very important not to give too much space to [Kevin] Stöger to deliver a pass and we made that [as well as] the control for [Tim] Kleindienst too easy. That's not our standard. We want to improve our standard.”
“If that happens, that we don't have too much of the ball and have to play without it, it's very important to press higher sometimes and defend a little deeper other times.”
"We have to be aggressive and not passive. Sometimes the spaces between the players were too large. There are things to improve."
During his interview with DAZN, Alonso also touched on potential incomings with the transfer window closing on August 30th.
“We have a good squad, but perhaps we can still improve it a little. We will see. We've spoken with Simon [Rolfes], with [Bayer 04 CEO] Fernando [Carro], with [Chairman of the Shareholders Committee] Mr. Wenning about having a complete squad because we have an intense season ahead of us.”
Alonso and his side are once again looking like one of the teams to beat after another late goa, something that has become synonymous with the club throughout the Spaniard's tenure.
