WERDER.DE: In Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München, two very tough tests await. You won’t be writing those games off though, will you?
Baumann: “No. We need to take some lesions from last year, when we thought we could get something out of game, even though we didn’t have the confidence going into them. That’s not what we want to do! If we put in a good performance, we have the chance of pulling something off. It is our objective to pick up points, even though we are playing against two of the best teams in the league. We will have to call on all that we have got and be brave and confident going into the games.
WERDER.DE: What goals have you set for the second half of the season?
Baumann: “It remains the case that we want to secure our position in the top flight as soon as possible and not have to worry until the last game of the season like last year. After a bad start to the season, we have managed to improve our situation, but we are still only three points off the drop. It is getting quite tight. The other teams around us have also prepared well. We can’t afford to switch off in any game now.”
WERDER.DE: Your first six months as sporting director has already gone. Have you had the chance to draw your own personal conclusion on this period so far?
Baumann: “Of course, I had a bit of time on holiday to do a bit of reflecting. From my point of view, I think it is very important to be self-critical. I can definitely say that it wasn’t a boring first six months. We had lots to do in terms of rebuilding the squad, which we have also worked on in the last couple of weeks. We are happy with how that development is going. The team have definitely become more solid. We have had less injuries, even though we had to do without a couple of players in our winter preparations. Nevertheless, there are still things we can improve on. You can never be content, if you want to keep on developing further.”
WERDER.DE: Where do you see improvements being made then in the medium term?
Baumann: “I’m a big fan of keeping those sorts of things internal. Even though as a club we are in a good position in a lot of areas, there is still that need to optimise certain things. We will change and implement a few things yet.”