Peter Stoger praised Borussia Dortmund's resolve after Christian Pulisic scored a late winner to beat Hoffenheim on Saturday, but the new coach also saw areas for improvement.
The Black and Yellows celebrated a vital come-from-behind victory, marking their second consecutive win since appointing Stoger.
The hosts were positioned in their own half and created three promising scoring opportunities in the opening 15 minutes after forced turnovers, but the visitors broke the deadlock, as Mark Uth finished slotted home a squared ball by Pavel Kaderabek in the box after 20 minutes.
Hoffenheim dominated the rest of the first half with ease, as Dortmund's build-up play fell flat.
"At the beginning of the game we had a couple of big chances in transitions which we wasted too carelessly," Stoger told his news conference, as he recapped the game in his own words: "Then we conceded a goal in an area despite having warned [our players] that Hoffenheim would like to pass there.
"In the second half, we managed to implement our match plan better. We managed to find players in the half spaces more often, which led to more dangerous plays. Both our goals were instigated in those half spaces."
Peter Stoger watched his side pull off a second straight win to open his tenure.
In the 63rd minute, Andrey Yarmolenko's pass found Shinji Kagawa in the box. The latter was clumsily brought down by centre-back Stefan Posch resulting in a clear-cut penalty. Aubameyang left goalkeeper Oliver Baumann no chance placing the spot kick into the lower right corner to equalise.
Neither team could gain dominance in the final half-hour of the match, but it was Dortmund's individual brilliance that prevailed in the end.
Substitute Mahmoud Dahoud found Shinji Kagawa, who played a well-timed ball into the path of Pulisic. The U.S. international lobbed the keeper with his first touch and finished with his second in one free-flowing move.
"Not everything was on point today," Stoger said, maligning his team's lack of passing quality and rigor in tackling. "We've been too clumsy in our passing. And if you give the ball away cheaply, you have to be more fierce in your tackles, but we also lacked the grit today.
"Yes, it was an important win against a good opponent today but we have a lot of room for improvement in those areas. Obviously, the confidence of individual players suffered during the long winless spell. It will take time until certain routines return."
"But I saw a team that was ready to throw everything they had into the game to get a result and that is very impressive. If we think ahead to early next year, after having some time to consolidate, then I think we will see a very good team."
Dortmund will round off 2017 with a cup tie away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, where they will seek to add a third consecutive win under Stoger.
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Source: espn.co.uk