Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus has praised the development of 18-year-old Jadon Sancho and 20-year-old Jacob Bruun Larsen as the Bundesliga leaders look to keep their lead ahead of Saturday’s visit of Augsburg.
Reus spoke to Bundesliga.com following Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 win against Ligue 1 outfit AS Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday night after a slow start.
On Borussia Dortmund’s performance: “Monaco did very well in the first half and at times they moved the ball around well. We had some problems creating chances to score, but we didn’t become nervous. We had a good game plan, wanted to play patiently and already showed that Monaco were slightly vulnerable in defence. In the second half, we played better from the back and created more gaps ahead of us.”
On Borussia Dortmund’s hot prospects: “There’s a certain euphoria about the boys right now. They give us a lot of input, help the team a great deal and still shine individually.”
On Jacob Bruun Larsen and Jadon Sancho: “Clearly many players have enormous potential, but the nuts and bolts are that we have a plan. The guys know exactly what they have to do defensively and in attack, we all have liberties. The coach always tells us that. Of course we have certain solutions that we also work on in training, but in games you decide instinctively. If you have street footballers like Jadon and Jacob then it’s really fun. We can be happy that we have these players and that things are going so well. But on Saturday against Augsburg it’ll be another very different game. We have to mobilise all our energy again before the international break.”
On Lucien Favre and Borussia Dortmund’s start to the season: “I know what our coach can do and what kind of philosophy he has, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to me. We certainly won’t beat all our opponents easily, but the way we’ve been playing – especially in our past two or three matches – makes me feel very positive and we know we can always score. There’s still a lot to do. Monaco also had two or three really good chances on the break. If they’d done better with those, it could have been really dangerous for us. We currently have momentum on our side but we still have to work hard for that.”
On his roles at BVB (as a No. 10) and the German national team (as a striker): “That’s a completely different team. You can see that I feel better when I play in the attacking midfield role. I’m just not a centre-forward. At BVB it’s also clear that Alcacer and Maximilian Philipp are our two centre-forwards and I like to be behind them.”
Speaking to the media after Wednesday’s win, Reus told reporters he’s not surprised at Borussia Dortmund’s form. “I know what our coach can do and what his philosophy is. So I’m not surprised that we’re doing so well. But we also have a lot of work ahead of us. Currently, we have the momentum on our side.”
Reus has had an impressive September with Borussia Dortmund, scoring three goals and assisting two in four Bundesliga games before adding a goal and assist during Wednesday’s win against AS Monaco.
The 29-year-old has developed a relationship with Jadon Sancho which sees the Englishman top the assists chart with six in all competitions this season, which resulted in Gareth Southgate calling him up to the England national team ahead of a potential first cap for the Three Lions.
Borussia Dortmund remain unbeaten under new head coach Lucien Favre while they do look a totally different side under the Swiss tactician following a dire spell under Peter Bosz and Peter Stöger last campaign, that saw them almost miss out on Champions League football.
A criticism of this Dortmund side in the early stages under Favre is their slow starts to fixtures. In the league, 11 of their 19 goals have come after the hour mark. Against Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, Dortmund found themselves two goals down in the first half before replying with four in the second.
If Favre can fine tune his team to start well, then there’s no reason as to why Borussia Dortmund can’t be up there with Bayern Munich come May and if they are, it will be some feat from Reus & Co. considering this is a transitional season for the 2012 Bundesliga champions.
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