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Adrian Gantenbein: Trying my hardest to impress the coach
Six months have passed since Adrian Gantenbein arrived auf Schalke, although he missed much of the first half of the season through injury. During the winter training camp, the 23-year-old right-back is looking to make a fresh start and also spoke about the atmosphere in the team, his strengths, and the second half of the campaign.
Adrian Gantenbein on…
…the sessions at the training camp so far:
We had three very intense days with two sessions on both Saturday and Sunday, followed by the first friendly against Aarau on Monday. You certainly feel all of that in the legs, so the focus on Tuesday was on recovery and slowly increasing the intensity again before our training double-header again on Wednesday.
…the atmosphere in the team:
It was good from the start. The same goes for the first half of the season. However, when you suffer a string of bad results, it’s normal for the mood to drop. The last three games before the break gave us a real boost though, and now you get the sense that everyone has really come together even more.
…his situation after a long spell on the sidelines:
It’s very simple in football: either you’re a regular in the team or you’re the guy challenging for his place. Right now, I’m the latter. That’s why I’m trying my hardest in training and in the games to impress the coach. I’m not putting too much pressure on myself though, otherwise you risk tying yourself in knots. Taylan is doing a really good job, so I have to push myself to the limit in order to make the coach’s decision as difficult as possible.
Our philosophy is to build up from the back, which can sometimes result in individual mistakes.
…his strengths and his first league assist against Elversberg:
Getting an assist in the 4-1 win at Elversberg in the final game before Christmas was an amazing feeling. I want to use my speed down the right-hand side to link up with the wingers, create danger, and help the team as much as possible in the coming months.
…defensive work:
It’s the job of the whole team, not just the defenders. We work on that well as a team and I’m positive that it will improve even more. Our philosophy is to build up from the back, which can sometimes result in individual mistakes. However, it’s a playing style we’re comfortable with and gives us impetus going forward.
…the second half of the season:
Anything is possible, but we need to stay realistic and first and foremost make a clear improvement on the first half of the season. We will take one game at a time and our initial focus is on the trip to Braunschweig. If we can get a result there, we can take some momentum into our back-to-back home matches and continue to grow.
