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……
Hertha Berlin 4-0 Union Berlin
Bruno Labbadia: “We played a very good game against a very well-organised opponent in the first half. I had to make that clear to my team during the break because it got a little negative at the end. We are happy in the end because they are very important points in the relegation battle.
“It would have been huge if we had delivered such a game in front of 75,000 spectators. But I hope the fans at least had fun in front of their TV’s.”
Urs Fischer: “The first half was good, but we have to talk again about the second 45 minutes. You cannot lose your head completely after conceding a goal, but that’s exactly what we did. We invited Hertha in. Now it’s time to get up, we have lost a game, nothing more and nothing less.”
Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-3 Bayer Leverkusen
Marco Rose: “It’s a disappointing defeat because we went into the game with different expectations. Leverkusen were the better side; they had more control and played simple football. Their pace in attack hurt us and they won more tackles and more second balls. Despite that, we didn’t actually allow them to have many chances. We didn’t apply enough pressure in the final third though and didn’t create enough to hurt Leverkusen.
“We changed things around at half time because we wanted more presence up in attack, so we wanted to make it easier for our full backs to press. We started the second half well and just as we were hitting our stride and got the equaliser, we had the chance to go 2-1 up. Thuram was held when he had a chance and then they get a penalty instead straight down the other end. Ultimately, that was the crux in the match.
Peter Bosz: “We played well in the first half. We put them under pressure and attacked with courage. We ought to have made it 2-0 before the break. Gladbach made it tougher for us in the second half. The referee had another look at the penalty before making his decision so I can only assume it was the right call. Nevertheless, we put in a top performance in a big game.”
VfL Wolfsburg 0-2 Borussia Dortmund
Oliver Glasner: “We’re obviously disappointed as we had big plans but didn’t quite deliver them on the pitch. We were well-organised and gave away very few goalscoring opportunities, but we were too error-prone when we had possession. In that respect, Dortmund deserved the half-time lead.
“We did better after the break and I’m pleased with the performance there, especially the first 25 minutes. We needed to equalise during that period but then conceded the second goal on the counter.”
Lucien Favre: “We weren’t able to control the game for 90 minutes, but overall, we played very well and showed our intentions from the start. We had a lot of possession in the first half. We didn’t play as well after the break, but nevertheless it’s a deserved win for us.”
Freiburg 0-1 Werder Bremen
Christian Streich: “We thought of the people. We were fully focused so that we could have a good game and we succeeded to a large extent. ”
Florian Kohfeldt: “We earned the victory, particularly with our effort and passion in the final 15 mins of the game. Up until the 75th minute it was a good away performance from us against a strong Freiburg side, who were very patient up until the final minute, so it was difficult for us to keep hold of the ball.
“So, I’m really happy about an away win against a strong side, even though we had a slice of luck at the end. We have to continue this mentality; I’m convinced that we have the footballing quality to continue picking up points over the next few weeks.”
Paderborn 1-1 Hoffenheim
Steffen Baumgart: “The way that the lads fought back after going 1-0 down early on was really good. We could’ve been leading at the break. The draw is not an unfair result based on the 90 minutes, but we’d have liked to have two more points.”
Oliver Schreuder: “We created a great deal of chances, especially towards the beginning, and were immediately rewarded with the opener. We wobbled briefly after it became 1-1, but then we responded well again. We were well in the game.
“We were the better team in the first period. You could see in the second half that Paderborn are a good team and that they play very courageously. I’m very satisfied with the lads’ development; we’re creating a lot of great opportunities; we need to build on that.”
Bayern Munich 5-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Hansi Flick: “I’m very pleased with the first half, we were dominant. The way David Alaba plays at centre-back, how he keeps our defence intact: it’s just top-notch. And we must mention Thomas Müller, who used the space very intelligently and was involved in a number of goals.
“Everything went according to plan in the first half. We scored the third straight after half-time. Maybe we put the game behind us mentally, we lacked focus then. We didn’t perform so well when not in possession. Frankfurt are very strong at set pieces. We knew that. It didn’t go so well.
“We’ll have a look and learn from it. We hope Tuesday’s match will be attractive. Nothing will be decided after that, no matter what the result. The league is very balanced, especially at the top, with attractive football.”
Adi Hütter: “It was a deserved victory for Bayern, but I’d like to pay my team a compliment, they showed the right reaction after the match against Gladbach. We turned in a very decent display, we felt we could take something away, especially after our second goal.
“Of course, we knew Bayern can always up the ante. Their fourth goal was annoying because it was more or less an own-goal, a present from us. We conceded goals right before and straight after half-time, that was the crux. I was very impressed with the reaction, the way we scored from two set pieces.
“We had a few chances after that, including Kostić’ effort that crashed off the post. It was a deserved victory although I’m annoyed, we conceded five goals. But we can build on our performance.”
Schalke 0-3 Augsburg
David Wagner: “The game started badly. We weren’t dangerous enough with all the possession we had. We were really tense in the second half. Conceding goals from individual errors is typical of the situation we find ourselves in right now. Now we need to support the lads so they start playing with confidence again. We are making too many individual errors leading to goals. A lot of it is psychological. The lads are aware of the current situation.”
Heiko Herrlich: “We knew if we stayed compact and had good organisation that we could pick up points here. We had a lot of chances and we took them. To win 3-0 at Schalke is always special and it’s a big turnaround for us, but now we have to build on that.
“There’s still some things we can improve on from this performance. We gave the ball away too easily too many times today and we will be working on that in training because if you look at the table, we’re not out of the woods yet.”
Mainz 0-5 RB Leipzig
Achim Beierlorzer: “It was an extremely disappointing game today. We went with three centre backs to avoid goals like the first two – nobody picked up their men. We played against a really good team, but we never found a way of being a threat to Leipzig. They pressed us very aggressively and that got to us somewhat. We weren’t able to do what we wanted to and it wasn’t an even game.”
Julian Nagelsmann: “It is not easy psychologically when you win the reverse fixture 8-0. We had at least eleven 100% chances, which is not so bad against an opponent who defended so deep. Our goal is it to end up in one of the first four places at the end of the season. ”
Köln 2-2 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Markus Gisdol: “There are mixed feelings. We met an opponent who read us well and thus presented us with difficulties. We have lost security. Perhaps it is part of the development of a team after a very successful phase that the opponents find ways to combat our game. We must now learn how to develop other mechanisms in such a case.”
Uwe Rosler: “It took us a little longer to digest everything after the game. We had to give our opinion and the players were brutally honest. It can’t be that we have yet again not been rewarded. It’s been a crucial week for us, and we have to shake it off now. Now all that is important is to prepare for the game against Schalke. The team has come back every time up till now and I see no reason why it shouldn’t work this time. “
