'We'll try to win as many games as possible'

Peter Bosz shared his views on…

…his appointment with Bayer 04:  "I'm happy to be back working as a coach after a year off. And then with such a good club such as Bayer 04 Leverkusen, which has a very good team with a lot of quality players. I'm really looking forward to being back on the training ground."

…the short time available to prepare for the first game in the second half of the season against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 19 January: "We now have two weeks before it starts again – that's not much time. We'll have to work as quickly as possible with the players and get to know the squad and the players will have to get to know me too. We won't just be on the training ground but we will also have meetings where I can explain my approach to the game. It will be hard work. But I think it's an advantage that I've been following the team more than usual for the past 18 months and I've seen a lot of Bayer 04 games this season."

…the focus of his work in the next few days: "It's impossible to convey my way of playing to the team within two weeks. We'll make a start but now we'll just  have to concentrate on playing with as much intelligence as possible: If we want to play attacking, attractive football then we have to be compact as a team up front and be able to adjust our shape well – we can only play attacking football if our defence is well organised. We will work hard to make that happen as quickly as possible."

…targets for the second half of the season: "In football you always want to win every game. You can achieve a lot if that happens. But you have to be realistic and realise you can't win every game. We've got a good team and we'll try to win as many games as possible. We are still in the Europa League and the DFB Cup –  they are both important competitions. Of course, the target for a club like Bayer 04 Leverkusen has to be qualifying for Europe again."

…his mistakes during his time as coach at Borussia Dortmund: „"I don't want to repeat the mistakes here that I made there. (he laughs) I definitely made mistakes but it's always about learning from your mistakes  and gaining experience. I've taken a lot from these experiences. It's not just the players who have to develop – I have to do the same as coach."

…activity after his time at Dortmund up to his appointment with the Werkself: "I spent a lot of time with my family but I've also learned a lot from my fellow coaches – that's taken me to clubs in different countries. I've seen a lot of football and used the time you don't normally have in such amounts as a coach."

…working with talented youngsters such as Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Leon Bailey: "It's always fun helping talented players to develop and it's also fun integrating players like that into a team and being successful together. But we don't just have talented youngsters in the team but also older, experienced players who are also good footballers. I think we have a good squad."

…his comeback in the Bundesliga: "If I'm honest, I wanted to come back to the Bundesliga. I wasn't finished here. (he laughs) Because it (time at Dortmund, ed.) was much too short and the people here didn't have the chance to see the real coach Peter Bosz. I hope they will be able to see that now that I'm here."

…questions about his style of play: "You can play  a system in different ways. It's not that important to me whether you call it 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. The players I have available are much more important. I'll have to see how I can best play attractive football with these players. That's what we want to do in the coming weeks and months."

"We have lots of players able to play that type of football"

Rudi Völler: "It's no secret we were in close contact 18 months ago – unfortunately it didn't work out. Peter believes in the football we played in a similar way under Roger Schmidt and we have lots of players able to play that type of football because they are young and quick as well as good on the ball and they have the desire to get forward."

Simon Rolfes: "Peter believes in attacking an attractive football. We want to develop that in the second half of the season as we have lots of players who  are very much at home with that type of football. Peter is very communicative as a coach – we have spoken a lot in the past few days. I'm very much looking forward to working with him and hope we will be very successful."

...possible new signings: "We basically have a good squad that we absolutely trust and we also have confidence in the players that they can up their game in the second half of the season. Things can always happen very quickly in football but we don't have any plans at the moment.“