To focus, to shut out the outside noise, to not be distracted. Part of that demeanour is nurture is much as it is nature. He knows what the drill is. Ambition is total and there are clear consequences for falling short.
This week has underlined exactly how short Leipzig are of where they want to be, and how desperate they are to get there. It might not have meant anything to the final count but it meant something to Leipzig. Last year they were thoroughly examining Real Madrid in the first knockout round. This time, having lost all their games but one, they will be watching it at home on television.
Because results must come, with a return to the Champions League far from secure, but so must style and intent. These are not signings made in the name of development, or with the aim of standing still. The extra time on the training field afforded to Leipzig in the coming weeks by that shambolic Champions League group stage — more time to plan than Bayern, Leverkusen of Dortmund will be able to count on, for example — means ironing out the creases in their game is an obligation rather than a preference.
Simons hit the outside of the post after a limpid first-half movement but there was little of mention in terms of clear-cut opportunities. Union had three times as many efforts on goal. It could have been worse even, with Peter Gulacsi fumbling a set-piece delivery in stoppage time in front of Union substitutes Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu and Lucas Tousart, but just about getting away with it.
So he is prepared, you suspect, for it to happen again at some point. Making the top four again is the bare minimum but the way in which Leipzig achieve it will dictate whether the coach continues his mission or not — as he well knows. It was all about Harry Kane in his 50th Bundesliga appearance for Bayern, scoring twice against Holstein Kiel to give the leaders a win and take his league goal tally to an astonishing One striker who we less expected to make headlines in Germany this weekend was Victor Boniface.
