Marco Reus: "Borussia Dortmund not there yet, but we want to be top!"
Marco Reus believes Borussia Dortmund are heading in the right direction, despite surrendering a 2-0 lead in Tuesday's absorbing 3-3 draw at home to Bundesliga leaders RB Leipzig.
Dortmund are unbeaten in their five competitive matches since switching to a 3-4-3 formation, and trail Leipzig by just three points ahead of their year-ending trip to Hoffenheim.
Club captain Reus, 30, acknowledged defensive mistakes cost them all three points against the top-flight pacesetters, but told media after the game that the Black-Yellows can be confident of closing the gap if they continue to refine their game...
bundesliga.com: Marco Reus, BVB led Leipzig 2-0, then let them back into the game...
Marco Reus: "That's exactly what happened. We shot ourselves in the foot with the goals we conceded. It's a bitter pill to swallow. We played very well for long periods, especially in the first half. Leipzig didn't cause us too much trouble in the second half - if you don't include Timo [Werner] being too lazy to track back and waiting for the mistake (laughs). Roman Bürki came out wanting to head clear, but there was so much rain it slid off his head. The third goal was avoidable, too. That's why we're not happy to only take a point. We were expecting more."
bundesliga.com: Did a lack of concentration play a part after such a dominant first half?
Reus: "It's not about concentration. Things like that shouldn't happen, but they do. We shouldn't be conceding goals like that. We still got ourselves back in front pretty quickly and were on top again, but the third goal, as I said, was avoidable. Now we're standing here, not quite knowing what to do with the result. We deserved to win, but Leipzig are without doubt a very good team."
bundesliga.com: Dortmund still had chances to score on the counter. Were you not clinical enough?
Reus: "Perhaps so. We had a number of good chances after going 3-2 up, but either the final ball was lacking or we got our positioning wrong. We're to blame for that, but I still think we're looking pretty solid right now, despite the goals we conceded."
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bundesliga.com: How do you approach your final game of 2019 at Hoffenheim, following this result?
Reus: "We have to take the positives, despite how things unfolded. The way we defended and how we transitioned from defence to attack, particularly in the first half - that's what we set out to do. In the second half, we had to apply more pressure; we were too passive in defence. We're still not defending aggressively enough, but there were positives. The mistakes that led to the Leipzig goals certainly won't happen again. Then we'll win our games."
bundesliga.com: The new system seems to be working well, though. Do you feel comfortable in the new set-up?
Reus: "I think you've been able to see that in recent weeks, but we're still fine-tuning. I've always stressed how we need to find our 'flow', as we call it. But we're not where we want to be yet. We need to keep working hard at it."
bundesliga.com: Where do Borussia want to be?
Reus: "Top, where else?! We've talked about it time and again. Now we've got a trip to Hoffenheim on Friday that we really want to win."
bundesliga.com: Are you worried the draw against Leipzig might have knocked the team's confidence?
Reus: "No!"
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