The final whistle blows, and the dust settles on the previous ninety minutes. But the press soon wants to get the opinions from the Bundesliga trainers whether they have won, lost, or drawn. Here’s what they had to say following matchday 8.
Bayern Munich 4-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Julian Nagelsmann: “A win’s always important, that’s no different today. We’re happy with the result and the manner of the win. The early goal helped us. We were far more effective compared to the last game. We prevented the counterattacks in the first half.
“We controlled the game. The second half was a little more open. It was a good reaction after recent results. We’re happy and hope we can kick on in the Champions League.”
Gerardo Seoane: “The worst thing that could have happened – an early goal – happened. Bayern’s combination play was on point, and they were really in the mood, but we weren’t good enough in the tackle. We lacked the necessary bite in certain situations. We weren’t aggressive enough today.
“It’s a question of will. We have to ask ourselves whether we’re ready to go the extra mile. This virtue has to be on the pitch, and it is a basic in almost every sport. We have to work on the duel toughness and the willingness to fight”
Freiburg 2-1 Mainz
Christian Streich: “We’re doing really well with both goals. Mainz’s goal is poorly defended. We had more chances to score than Mainz, good ones too. In the end there were balls flying through the penalty area, and we were lucky there. But overall, it wasn’t undeserved. I’m extremely happy.”
Bo Svensson: “It was very difficult for us, it started badly with the early goal. That wasn’t planned. Overall, we didn’t defend well in a few situations. Both goals were actually almost okay, but the goals still came. Otherwise, I wasn’t that dissatisfied with phases of our game. Then in the second half we had more energy, and we scored the goal. We believed until the end that we could take another point.”
Köln 3-2 Borussia Dortmund
Steffen Baumgart: “Dortmund was better in the first half, also in terms of scoring chances. In the first 20 minutes of the second half it was a really good game from us, we should have scored the fourth goal We were a bit lucky after the 3-2.”
Edin Terzic: “It’s very disappointing for us, it’s very bitter. We showed a very good first half. We addressed exactly what shouldn’t happen at half-time. We were unable to show the toughness in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the second half. At a very important point in the game we were not ready to defend our goal. We didn’t have the intensity there.”
VfL Wolfsburg 3-2 VfB Stuttgart
Nico Kovac: “We were very good today. In the first half in particular, Florian Müller had to intervene three or four times because we got pace into the box and tried to force the opponents into mistakes. We also succeeded in getting further into the final third, which meant we could’ve scored even more goals.
“The equaliser at 2-2 wasn’t easy for the lads, but they kept going, even if the second half wasn’t as thrilling as the first. Nevertheless, I saw that the players wanted it and believed in it until the end. I’m pleased that Yannick Gerhardt got the goal.”
Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We’re very disappointed about the result, especially about the three goals we conceded. From my point of view, all three were avoidable. I thought our performance was better in the second half.
“We had a good spell with chances to take the lead ourselves. I’m most annoyed about the goals we conceded – the last one particularly hurt.”
Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 Union Berlin
Oliver Glasner: “It was a deserved win over the 90 minutes. It was a focused performance, we were always alert on the defensive, and controlled the pace. We were calm and then kept pushing the change of pace. That was very good. After the sending off we defended with everything we had.”
Urs Fischer: “The first ten minutes we were good, then we became less so. Then Frankfurt brought he basics to the pitch, that we had imagined we’d bring. The basics that characterise us we didn’t bring to the pitch. Frankfurt were more alert, quicker, and sharper. Therefore, they deserved the victory.”
RB Leipzig 4-0 VfL Bochum
Marco Rose: “We deserved to win. We did a lot of things well; we were really sharp. We had a lot of chances and still kept a clean sheet. It was very good today.
“We knew that Bochum would play with a back three. We had prepared with Vitesse Arnhem and Bochum clips. Christo [Nkunku] was very strong in the centre today.”
Thomas Letsch: “We were defeated in every respect, that was clear today. Unfortunately, we did not manage to implement what we had planned. The energy was there during the training week, but we couldn’t bring that to the pitch today.
“We gave Leipzig too much room and invited them to score goals. With the ball we had absolutely no relief. We now have to find solutions and want to play much better against Frankfurt in our own stadium.”
Werder Bremen 5-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Ole Werner:” It was a brilliant first half by us, almost perfect. Our aggression without the ball was the key thing to our good start tonight. We created a number of chances from our ball recoveries and obviously via a bit of luck. That enabled us to decide the game early on.
“We were a bit more cautious in the second half. We were fortunate on a few occasions that Gladbach didn’t score, which would have got them back into the game. It was a great performance overall by my team and they can be really proud this evening.”
Daniel Farke: “Things like this unfortunately happen sometimes in football. We weren’t good enough in the first 20 minutes and lost the game then due to our defending. We couldn’t make a single pass in the first few minutes and lost every challenge. The third goal was a perfect example of that.
“We didn’t change everything after going a few goals down because we didn’t want to completely confuse the lads. They showed a good reaction after that. We had several chances to get back into the game and then didn’t afford them too many opportunities. Overall though, we definitely deserved to lose the game.”
Hertha Berlin 1-1 Hoffenheim
Sandro Schwarz: “After a good start, we had problems getting to grips with Hoffenheim’s attacking play. We then made a few tactical tweaks and things improved, but we were too passive, which allowed them to score the opening goal. We came out very well in the second half, were really positive in our play and had chances to take the lead.
“The game became pretty wild towards the end, it stood on a real knife-edge and both teams had chances to score. In the end, I’d say a draw was a fair result.”
Andre Breitenreiter: “Maybe it was a fair result in the end, but I think we put in an extremely good away performance in the first half. My team kept a compact shape against the ball right from the start and defended well as a unit. We were very precise and variable in possession. We deserved to take the lead, but then failed to hammer home our advantage early on.
“We let Hertha back into the game through a mistake. In the second half, Hertha were much improved and we struggled to play our way out from the back. In the end, 1-1 was a fair result. I’m not satisfied with the point, even though we played well for long stretches.”
Schalke 2-3 Augsburg
Frank Kramer: “We are very disappointed. After being 2-0 down, we fought our way back into the game, put in a lot of effort and energy. That was great. Overall, Augsburg was very effective. In the last 20 minutes we should have done more we a man extra.
“We were a bit too restless and wanted to force it. Of course, there is also an opponent like Augsburg there. FCA then turns the game on their favour. We deserved more today.”
Enrico Maaßen: “I’m very happy that we were able to win the game. It was a very explosive duel. I think we played a good first half. The first 25 minutes were strong, but after that we lost depth in our own game. That’s how Schalke came back. The yellow-red card was of course a sticking point and the second goal conceded was a setback. But the way we put it away was really good. We showed a great mentality and got defended nearly everything.”.
