Thursday 7 April 2016 08:52, UK
"Jurgen Klopp had seven unbelievably successful seasons here. We will now try to create a new chapter at a high level. Klopp created a great foundation. We must build on that."
This, taken from Thomas Tuchel's first press conference as Borussia Dortmund manager in June, is textbook spiel. Nine months on, the quotes have more substance.
Tuchel has taken on one of football's toughest successor jobs, used Klopp's superb foundation, and made enough subtle changes in a short space of time to make Dortmund a force again.
Their current position is a familiar one. They sit second in the Bundesliga, five points behind Bayern Munich with six games remaining and on Thursday they welcome their former leader back to the Westfalenstadion as Liverpool make the trip in the Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Dortmund are in fine form for the visit. They are undefeated in 14 games in all comptitions, winning 11.
Tuchel's Dortmund are convincing many in Germany that the gap between themselves and Bayern can be narrowed even this season, let alone in years to come.
Why are they convinced? Because Dortmund are not merely riding a wave of form. By bravely building on Klopp's foundation but keeping much of the same playing personnel, Tuchel now has a robust side capable of mixing it with Europe's finest once more.
They have 67 points from 28 games, a superior tally to anything achieved under Klopp, even in the club's two Bundesliga winning campaigns.
Tactically, Tuchel has Dortmund pressing at every opportunity still, but with the aim of stabilising the game rather than being the focal point of attack like Klopp. They run less, pass far more, and use the wide channels as an attacking outlet rather than stifling the central areas.
Three players have benefitted most, and in an age of £150m summer overhauls, Tuchel's idea of using what he already has at his disposal is refreshing.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan joined Dortmund in 2013 with the view of replacing Mario Gotze, who had taken the familiar road south to Munich, but it didn't work out at first.
Sky in Germany's Mario Hater says: "Mkhitaryan struggled when he came to Dortmund. It wasn't easy for him, there was a lot of pressure on him being the next Gotze.
"This season he's playing incredibly well." That's reflected in his total of 10 goals and 12 assists in 27 appearances.
Tuchel has the Armenian playing left and right wing in all manner of formations - 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1, 4-2-4, you name it, Tuchel has probably tried it. What it produces is a Dortmund with a plan b and more, when up against lower opposition they are now satisfied with sitting back at the Westfalenstadion, something they did not do in Klopp's final season.
The goals - Dortmund have 67 this season, one more than Bayern and 12 more than last season's entire tally - are coming from an attacking trio spearheaded by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and complemented by Marco Reus and Mkhitaryan.
Aubameyang has 23 in the Bundesliga, just six fewer than his record from his previous two seasons combined, and has been repeatedly linked with a move to the Premier League and Spain for big money. But sitting behind the Gabon striker in central midfield is a little-known 20-year-old whose price tag would barely make a speck on the balance sheet of Europe's top clubs.
Young midfielder Julian Weigl, signed for an undisclosed fee reported to be around £2m, arrived at the club from 1860 Munich just two weeks after Gonzalo Castro, Dortmund's major summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen for £8m.
There was little doubt at the time who out of the two would be playing the bigger part, but the more Weigl impressed, the more Castro missed out. Weigl's attention to detail mirrors that of his manager; he is modest, thoughtful and calm on the ball, yet his influence is arguably as great as the frenetic trio ahead of him. Predictably, he is now being linked with other top clubs around Europe.
"Weigl is BVB's surprise of the season," adds Sky in Germany's Harter. "He captained 1860 Munich in Bundesliga Two and was one of the most important players when he was only 18.
"Tuchel trusts him on the pitch and Weigl replies with great performances."
Trust is the key word. Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan, both long-term Dortmund players recognisable with Klopp's famous sides, have also seen an upturn in form following a chaotic last campaign under the Liverpool manager. Sven Bender, who played nearly 200 games for Klopp as a midfielder, was told to play centre-back, and it worked.
But what about the manager himself? That it has taken so long to analyse Tuchel's personality is a testament to his ideology. Under the 42-year-old, players come first.
Like Klopp, he did not have much of a playing career, and took Mainz to unprecedented heights before moving to Dortmund. Unlike Klopp, the entertainment factor lies almost solely with the team.
Harter says: "Tuchel is more straight. Not boring, don't get me wrong, he's nice, he's intelligent and he knows how to talk to people. He's not as entertaining as Klopp, but honestly, who is?
"Tuchel thinks about football all day long. In that case he is perhaps similar to Pep Guardiola, of course not on the same level, but they share similar views about football.
"If reports are to be believed, Guardiola and Tuchel met in a Munich restaurant during Tuchel's sabbatical year after stepping down from Mainz, and used salt and pepper mills to convey their spectrum of ideas on football.
"The Dortmund fans like Tuchel and the media respect him a lot. In my eyes they are more flexible now.
"The game against Bayern (March 5) may have been 0-0, but it was a fantastic piece of football. Great tactics, great to watch, and one of the best games I've seen in this season."
Wherever the Bundesliga title ends up, Tuchel's season will have been a relative success. Not many expected Dortmund to be challenging with six games remaining against one of the greatest Bayern sides and managers Europe has seen in recent decades.
To come close to, match, or surpass Klopp's achievements, Tuchel's biggest challenge may be keeping hold of talent. It's a familiar battle in Dortmund, one Klopp had both success and failure with during his stint, but Harter believes the club's attitude to keeping players has strengthened from top to bottom.
"I think certain clubs will try to sign Aubameyang, there are many rumours already. But I'm sure Dortmund will do all they can to keep him.
"They lost Gotze and Robert Lewandowski, which hurt the club, but in the following years they managed to extend Reus' contract until 2019.
"That was an important step - for the other players in the squad too. It's very important for the club to keep the key players."
Their next test has different connotations as Tuchel pits his wits against the man he replaced.
If Dortmund emerge victorious it will be a reflection not only of the scale of the task ahead of Klopp at Liverpool but also the progress his successor has made too.
