Edin Terzic declared himself "very satisfied" as first-half goals from Marco Reus and Emre Can sent Borussia Dortmund three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Friday with a 2-1 home win over title rivals RB Leipzig.
Dortmund captain Reus won and converted a penalty after 21 minutes and Can doubled the lead with five first-half minutes remaining with a long-distance shot from outside the box.
The win was Dortmund's 10th from 10 matches in 2023 and switched the pressure back to previous leaders Bayern Munich, who travel to Stuttgart on Saturday.
After the match, Reus told DAZN "we had to hold on at the end" but said "our goal was to steal the lead on top of the table back and we did it".
Terzic said his side "played a really good game in the first half and in the second half defended passionately".
"The second half was of course frustrating but you can see that it's not really easy to score goals against us.
"Today the two most in-form teams in the Bundesliga played each other."
Leipzig boss Marco Rose said the result "was difficult to accept" and credited Dortmund's "efficiency".
"We've got to do more to perform at this level consistently, but I think we also showed what we are capable of," he added.
