The whistle blows and the action on the pitch is over. We may all be social-distancing right now, but the Bundesliga trainers are still giving their opinions post-match (albeit via a microphone on a very long pole!). Here are the trainer reactions from matchday 26……
Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Schalke
Lucien Favre: “It was a good display by us, and we deserved to win. We’re naturally happy with the result. We didn’t know how things would turn out today after the break, so it was a really good start. 4-0 against Schalke – that’s quite good. The key was that the team played well together, also defensively. That was very, very special.
“It was a completely different game than usual. It’s hard to judge how good the game was. I had the feeling that it wasn’t as committed as planned. The players were very focused on their task.”
David Wagner: “It was a poor performance and we conceded goals at bad moments – both before and just after the break. We weren’t brave enough today. We gave Dortmund too much freedom and space. Their goals could easily have been avoided. We didn’t have a feeling of where we were at today.
“Our defending wasn’t good enough and we deserved to lose the game. We need to dust ourselves down and improve for next time. The team – despite the result – has a lot of potential. I don’t want to start questioning that because of one day.”
RB Leipzig 1-1 Freiburg
Julian Nagelsmann: “I’m really happy with our rhythm and the intensity of the match, but not with the result. We put them under lots of pressure in the second half and created some great chances. To create a number of opportunities against a side that defends deeply is no mean feat, however we have to be more efficient.
“Our goal is to finish within the top four positions, I’ve said this several times already. However, we still have eight games left, which we need and want to pick up points from. It was good for us at the end of the game that there was VAR; we have to be honest because we got lucky.”
Christian Streich: “For us the situation is not really new. We have already been training in empty stadiums. But it is sad not to have fans in the stadium. In the long run, it doesn’t matter. It won’t affect the quality of the game if there are no spectators. Also, as a coach, this isn’t something new as I have trained youth teams in the past and I always heard myself shouting.”
Hoffenheim 0-3 Hertha Berlin
Alfred Schreuder: “It doesn’t feel good when you lose a home game 3-0. It was a bit like the home game against Gladbach this season. We dominated the match for the most part and had a few opportunities to put ourselves 1-0 ahead, but we didn’t manage it. We made a good start to the second period too, but we didn’t take our chances.
“I think that we were still in the game even after we had fallen 2-0 behind and could’ve pulled it back to 2-1. The game was only over once it became 3-0. The lads performed well for 70 minutes after what was a long break. But we weren’t very good at either end, unfortunately. Both in their penalty area and ours.”
Bruno Labbadia: “We didn’t know where we stood after the long break and the change of coach. The team needed this victory for their self-confidence. I’m very happy that we picked up the three points. It wouldn’t be correct to say that we expected it. We didn’t know where we stood.
“The team performed very well. We wanted to lay some foundations. The team also needed the win. We mustn’t forget what has occurred within the club and the team over the course of the past few weeks. The victory will help us for the coming weeks.”
Augsburg 1-2 VfL Wolfsburg
Tobias Zellner: “We took a while to get going in the first half – Wolfsburg were on top. We were the better side after the break and enjoyed a good period in which we equalised. Our goal to go ahead was unfortunately disallowed. It seemed to wake Wolfsburg up a bit and knocked us back.
“Wolfsburg then had two good chances, but I thought it was going to peter out into a draw. Unfortunately, we didn’t defend well in added time and subsequently conceded.”
Oliver Glasner: “After such a long break, we’re very happy to have started the last part of the season with a win. When you score the winner right at the end there’s perhaps a bit of luck involved, but I think we were the more dangerous team over the 90 minutes. We were a bit fortunate that their second goal was ruled out, but on the whole, we controlled the game.
“I was particularly pleased with our reaction to Augsburg’s disallowed goal because we increased the pressure – Admir Mehmedi struck the post and had a late chance that was brilliantly saved by the Augsburg goalkeeper, so in the end we deserved the three points. We’re very happy about that.”
Fortuna Düsseldorf 0-0 SC Paderborn
Uwe Rosler: “We accepted the circumstances well and got into the game well. Our first 25 minutes were really good. We hit the post and also had a huge chance with ‘Zimbo’. I am happy with how the players implemented our guidelines. If you hit aluminium four times and have one or two chances, you have to win the game.
“However, we could have lost it in the 88th minute. The positive thing is that we are fit – we ran almost 120 kilometres. If we continue to play like this, we will still score points in games in which, at the moment no one believes we will.”
Steffen Baumgart: “We could have scored the goal at the end, but we were lucky several times when the Düsseldorf team hit the post. In the end, it’s 0-0. What was missing today was the atmosphere. You go to the stadium because of the atmosphere and the emotions and neither was there today. In football terms, it wasn’t a treat, even if both teams gave their all. We have to keep improving from game to game.”
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Adi Hütter: “When you go 1-0 down after 40 seconds and then concede another seven minutes later, it’s obviously going to be extremely difficult from there against such a good team. I can’t really understand or explain why we were caught napping in the opening stages.
“We lost all of our fifty-fifties early on. After that, we tried to push forward – especially in the second half I saw a lot of things that weren’t bad at all. But you just can’t make this many mistakes against such a good opponent, so we did deserve to lose in the end
Marco Rose: “I’m really happy to have gotten the win. I think it was a good team performance given the circumstances. We could even have won by a greater margin. It was a little nervy at the end after their goal, but I think all in all we worked hard and played some good football. We wanted to play our own game and we did that well for the most part. We tried to go about the game as we normally would even if it’s not all that much fun playing under these conditions, but the most important thing is that everyone is up for playing football, even if we have to do it without the fans.”
1.FC Köln 2-2 Mainz
Markus Gisdol: “We played well but there were parts that obviously weren’t good. We can close the room between the lines better, or control the game more. But after such a long break, it wasn’t bad. I don’t think it was one specific scene or moment, I think we could have controlled the game better. We left them too much room but that’s just part of what coming back after such a long time will bring.
“We’re happy to be back, that’s clear. It’s a one of a kind atmosphere and something that is something we can’t really get used to. Despite that, the quality of the game was definitely there.”
Achim Beierlorzer: “We did a great job – Koln did too. We implemented the requirements and played a really good football game with a fair outcome. I think the 2-2 win is well deserved. The team’s morale after that 0: 2- I can only praise it.
Hertha Berlin 0-2 Bayern Munich (Sunday)
Marcus Hoffmann, Co-Trainer Union Berlin: “We were able to force our game on Bayern a bit, so that they had to play long balls. We engaged them in many duels, and we broke their rhythm again and again. It was not always pretty but it was important for our game. We also had our chances.”
Hansi Flick: “It was a deserved win. We found it hard to get into the game, but I have to compliment my team on how they played the 90 minutes. You would certainly have heard that we said: ‘Boys keep at zero who have to stand zero’. So in the end I am satisfied with the result. ”
