Marco Kurz: “We're convinced we'll stay up”

When you've been in football for a long time, is it still something special to take on a task at a new team?

Absolutely. It's always a great experience and I'm looking forward to this task. Obviously I know how difficult it's going to be, but I've been following proceedings at the club for a while now, just like anyone else who works within the footballing community.

When you say that you've followed TSG for a while, how exactly have you done that?

Whether back in the fourth division as manager of Pfullendorf, later on with 1860's reserves and their first team, or even in the Bundesliga, I've always been a follower of Hoffenheim and the development of the team. I was born in Stuttgart so I know the region well and how things have transformed here. The development of Hoffenheim is not your everyday thing, so it draws your attention and it's always been something that's appealed to me.

Andreas Müller is a former companion of yours from your playing days at Schalke. Do you know any other people at TSG already?

I've worked with Fabian Johnson at 1860 München before, and Julian Nagelsmann was a young player there too back then, but he was injured at the time. Apart from that, you know some faces already through the regular meetings on the pitch, but I have to take things seriously and can't allow myself to be influenced by any previous perceptions of players.

Julian Nagelsmann will continue as a part of the coaching staff. Why was that an important factor for you?

I have the clear that up some more: Günther Gorenzel will be assistant manager along with Julian Nagelsmann. We want to expand our current circle, the goalkeeping coach and fitness coaches included. It was my expressed wish to integrate a close colleague who was a part of the Hoffenheim set-up already and knew the structure of the club well. I had a good conversation with Julian; he has the know-how and a strong presence. He's supervised the team in this position for a couple of weeks already and he can only be beneficial to us.

The team finds themselves in a sticky situation at the moment. What steps do you need to take?

First of all, it's important that we realise what situation we're in. We only have 12 points and there's a big gap between us and the teams ahead of us in the table. Nevertheless, we feel we can climb at least one place. It's no secret that we're lacking security at the back and compactness in our play and so we've conceded a lot of goals. It's important that we fix that, but of course we have to get things right offensively as well. I think that we're in a position where we can reach our goal, but now it's about putting that into practice.

Why will Hoffenheim stay up?

Because we're convinced that we will. We've not got a good amount of points going into the second half of the season and so there's going to be some scepticism, but we have to go day by day and work meticulously with the team and increase the self-confidence. The players will have to put a hell of a lot of work in over the next six months, off the pitch, as well as on it. That way, we can achieve our goal. There's a lot of pressure that we will have to cope with. We know how difficult this task will be; we're not sugarcoating anything, but nevertheless, we have faith in the side. We want to give the club and the region the gift of playing first division football next season. It's a lot of responsibility, but it's a great task and something that I have no fear of.