“Back to business with fresh impetus”

Timothy Chandler on…

…the opening days of pre-season training: “The new recruits have all been given a good, low-key welcome to the club. They’re happy to be here and have already settled in well. We’ll all get to know one another better over the next few days and weeks.”

…the first training sessions: “Training’s been good – each session has been very tough and intensive. We had rondos, pressing and counter-pressing – and that’s tough when the temperature is 30 degrees, but that’s the way it should be. Working hard is fun. Next week, when the internationals have all come back, we’ll no doubt work on the tactical side a bit more. Dino Toppmöller wants us to play his own brand of football, and bring a fresh impetus – we’re looking forward to that.”

…his role within the team: “I’m 100 percent committed to being a pro footballer and really want to get the chance to prove myself again. I want to play and get minutes under my belt. I can play anywhere from left to right across a back five and that might prove to be an advantage. I never give up and I always work hard. I’m also the joker of the team, as we all know – and not just over the past two years when I haven’t been playing all that much: it was already the case when I was in the starting line-up. I’m still the old Timmy I was back then.”

…younger players and youth team squad members: “I talk a lot with them and tell them that they need to give it their absolute all every single minute. They need to show that they’re desperate to turn pro with Eintracht. It’s important for the club that we have U21s who are playing at a good level after gaining promotion again.”

…goals for the season: “It’s still too early to talk about things like that. We’re Eintracht and we know where we’re from. We obviously always want to keep on improving and we’ve really come on quickly in recent years. The younger players will also have to develop like that. We’ve got a lot of quality in the side.”

…head coach Dino Toppmöller: “I’m not going to draw comparisons with other coaches. He comes across as a very decent, open kind of person and he fits in well – it was the right decision to go out and get him. What we want to do now is get back to business with fresh impetus and implement something positive.”

…the first pre-season friendly in Wetzlar: “We’ve been together for a few days now and we’ll be looking to play some attractive football, press forward and score a lot of goals – and enjoy ourselves while we’re at it. Hopefully it’ll be something good for the fans to enjoy.”