Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovač: ‘We want to improve our set pieces’
Borussia Dortmund head coach Niko Kovač says he wants his team to “improve our set pieces” going into the second half of the season.
BVB are currently second in the Bundesliga standings, nine points behind defending champions Bayern Munich.
And while they have a healthy goal difference of +14, Dortmund’s total goal tally of 26 is less than half of Bayern’s (55).
Watch: The Niko Kovač way
Speaking at the club’s training camp in Marbella as they gear up for the Bundesliga restart away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday 9 January, Kovač outlined one clear area to improve on as they bid to catch Vincent Kompany’s side.
“We also want to use this week to improve our set pieces; we want to create chances,” he told the official Dortmund website.
“We already have our chances, we just need to make better use of them. It’s all about the details: receiving the ball, carrying it forward, passing. But it’s not really preparation, it’s just a normal week of training ahead of a Bundesliga match. We’ve had a two-week break, so we need to get back into it a bit first.”
Of Dortmund’s 26 league goals so far in 2025/26, only five have been from dead-ball situations: one penalty, two from corners and two from free-kicks.
Bayern, by contrast, have scored six from penalties alone.
Two players who can potentially help provide added aerial threat are defenders Waldemar Anton and Aarón Anselmino, who both missed the team’s last two games of 2025 through injury but are now nearing comebacks.
“Waldi will hopefully be back tomorrow,” Kovač said. “We’ll have to wait and see with Aaron. He still needs a few days. I hope he’ll be ready by the weekend. But we won’t rush anything or take any risks, because we’ve seen how important he can be.”
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The game against Frankfurt is one of six for Dortmund in a tightly packed January schedule, followed by home games against Werder and St. Pauli. BVB will also take on Union Berlin and contest UEFA Champions League games against Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan before the month is out.
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