Volland: "We'll bounce back"

Germany international Kevin Volland was back in action in the Bundesliga after the international break. The 1899 Hoffenheim forward learnt some lessons in his side’s 4-0 defeat against Bayern München.

After the game, the 22-year-old spoke about the loss to the record champions, missed chances and his outlook for the rest of 2014.

Question: Mr. Volland, what do you make of the heavy defeat to Bayern?

Kevin Volland: The game could have been a lot different if we had done better with our chances in the first 20 minutes. But that’s the way it is. To travel back to Hoffenheim with a 4-0 defeat though is tough.

Question: Is the quality of finishing one of the major differences between Hoffenheim and FC Bayern?

Volland: You could also argue that we were dominant in the second half too. Their third goal came out of nothing. It was a real blow for us, especially if you look at the Adam Szalai’s missed chance or the one from Anthony Modeste in the first half. But we had some good opportunities on the whole. We pressed them well in the opening 25 minutes in particular. We were just lacking that final pass perhaps.

Question: What can you take from the game?

Volland: We’ll kick on from here. We’re on a good path. We had a bit of bad luck against Köln and were a tad unfortunate with the result here. We now have to win against Hannover.

Question: The game plan went really well at first, right?

Volland: We became a little more passive after Mario Götze’s opener. That was the reason why we were 2-0 down at the break and it doesn’t get easy against a side like Bayern from then on. Obviously, they produce some brilliant link-up play every now and again as well.

Question: What are your aims up until the winter break?

Volland: We still have five games to play – Dortmund, Frankfurt, Leverkusen, Hertha and at home against Hannover next week – we’ve got plenty of chances to pick up more points.

Question: So the team won’t be unsettled by having lost their last three games?

Volland: Not at all. You can see that the desire is there in training. Yes, we’ve obviously lost three on the spin but we had a bit of bad luck against Köln, and there was more in it for us against Bayern. Unfortunately we couldn’t get anything. But we’ll push on from here and we’re in a good position.

Question: What do you make of Adam Szalai’s red card?

Volland: (looks at the missed clear-cut chance from Szalai on the monitor) That chance, well, it doesn’t help. I haven’t seen the foul properly but it seemed like he was a bit too late and was unfortunate with how he caught with Dante. I don’t know whether it was worthy of a red though.

Question: Does it worry you that you’ve shipped eleven goals in your last three matches?

Volland: It enters our mind. But Köln had four chances against us and took all four of them. And then we conceded four again against Bayern. But we’ll bounce back and address the issue. I’m convinced that this won’t unsettle us.