He Said What? The Bundesliga Matchday 9 Trainer Soundbites

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 9.

Hoffenheim 1-2 Werder Bremen

Andre Breitenreiter: “”Congratulations to Werder Bremen. We started the game brilliantly and had a strong first half again. The boys really put it together very well and created a lot of clear chances. But we lacked precision. If there is anything to criticise, then it is certainly efficiency in front of goal. Too many shots went over or wide.

“In the second half, the game was more even. We’ve seen penalties like that given. We didn’t make many mistakes, but the opposition took full advantage of them, and we lacked precision. I’m really happy with my team’s performance despite the defeat. We played well.”

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Ole Werner: “We didn’t start the game well. We had lots of problems and gave away lots of silly chances. We also lost our grip just before half time. If you give the opposition so many opportunities with the ball, you have to control your own phases of possession better. We had some hair-raising moments when we gave the ball away today, with these often ending in counter attacks. We were lucky for a long time and fortunate as well to have gone into the lead.

“The equaliser was, again, down to giving away possession and not closing up the space in front of our defensive line. It was a shame because we had actually calmed the game down quite well after our opener. So, it was even more painful to break our structure and give the ball away unnecessarily. In possession, we just made too many simple mistakes.

“But we countered well ourselves today, which was important. All in all, we’ve had better games, but in terms of our mentality and our fight, it was a really good performance.”

Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 Schalke

Xabi Alonso: “We are satisfied. After two days with the team we didn’t have much time, but the players understood what we want and how we want to play. It was a complete performance today, both offensively and defensively. I think we can still improve a lot of things. We talked about some concepts and the players understood them. It’s a good start for the road ahead.

Frank Kramer: “We were the losing team today. We weren’t able to defend the pace of Leverkusen too often. We weren’t precise enough in possession, so we ran into counterattacks when we lost the ball. We couldn’t implement what we set out to do and therefore deservedly leave the field as losers. Now it’s time to analyze that clearly.”

Mainz 1-1 RB Leipzig

Bo Svensson: “We found it difficult to get into the game. We played well in the last 30 minutes in the first half, had lots of action on the ball even if we didn’t have many dangerous chances. I was satisfied. We wanted to continue playing like this, but it just didn’t work, Leipzig was just better.

“It’s also more difficult physically and mentally. We had a good goalkeeper who kept us in the game . We’re happy with the point at the end.”

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Marco Rose: “Of course we would have liked to win, but I think all in all it’s a deserved point for both sides. We started well and should have led, but then let the game slip out of our hands.

“Mainz was strong then. We shook ourselves at half time and played a good second half and scored a nice goal. At the end it was a point that we took with us.”

VfL Bochum 3-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

Thomas Letsch: “Oli surprised us, we expected Eintracht to play 3-4-3. It was important to get the spectators on board from the start, to believe in victory and to demonstrate that we didn’t give up. We’ve done it. It was also important to show that we are compact, that we can get into duels and win them. It was a great game and a deserved win.

“At half-time we talked about the fact that set-pieces can decide games. That has come true. We presented ourselves as a team and played a good game in our situation. It must always be uncomfortable in this stadium. We’ve done it.”

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Oliver Glasner: “Congratulations to Thomas Letsch and VfL on their well-deserved home win. I take 100 percent responsibility for this defeat. It was my line-up and my system. A lot of things didn’t add up. At 0-0 we had the chance to take the lead, later a shot on the post and an offside goal. We conceded three goals from set pieces. It’s bitter. We will draw the right conclusions with our coaching staff, I am convinced of that.”

Augsburg 1-1 VfL Wolfsburg

Enrico Maaßen: “We got into the game really well, pressed the opponent early on and had a great opportunity through Ermedin Demirović to take the lead. We then fell behind when Wolfsburg had the first dangerous chance. Despite this, we remained stable and came back after falling behind. The team is solid, we defended ourselves and fought back in the second half.

“We created a lot of chances to score and scored a goal against a team that is good at defending set-pieces. That’s why we’re happy with the point, as we’ve also overcome some challenges. There were a lot of emotions in it, but it wasn’t an unfair game, and we didn’t let ourselves be disturbed.”

Nico Kovac: “We saw a very intense football game today, certainly not a game that had many technical highlights. We knew that Augsburg wanted to quickly bridge the midfield and play a lot on second balls. That’s why we had to defend ourselves, of course, and that’s what we did.

“Both teams committed a lot of fouls and took a few yellow cards. The bottom line is that the result is okay, but I’m still satisfied with the way it was achieved.”

Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Bayern Munich

Edin Terzic: “It was a very intense match. In the first half in particular, we defended very well and kept it compact in the middle. The ball was in front of us. We gave away only that one shot at goal which made it 1-0. At that point, it’s not so easy to keep your discipline when the emotions and the desire to take risks are being transmitted to the team from the stands. You then need to be careful that you don’t open up too early and that the gaps don’t become too big.

“It got wild towards the end; that was also the aim of the substitutions. It was end to end. What was very positive was that we believed up until the last moment that something was still possible, even though we’d missed a huge opportunity to equalise in the 82nd minute. It was a very deserved point, because we created many chances at the end.

“When you’re 2-0 down against Bayern, the match normally ends 4-0 or 5-0. That didn’t happen today. We were able to put an exclamation mark behind the mentality question for today.”

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Julian Nagelsmann: “The teams were well matched. We were a little better in the second half, but Dortmund had some decent passages. At the end of the day, it’s a fair result. We had two or three chances to put the game to bed. After that, we didn’t defend well for their first goal. Then Dortmund threw everything forward.

“For the equaliser, we had to put more pressure on [Nico] Schlotterbeck. If we’d done that, they wouldn’t have scored. Obviously it’s tough to take because they equalised so late, but it’s not completely undeserved.”

Borussia Mönchengladbach 5-2 Köln 

Daniel Farke: “To come back like this after such a tough defeat in Bremen and to win the derby for the first time in a while was very important. During the first half, you could see why Köln have lost so rarely in recent months. They are very intense in their press and incredibly compact in midfield. You have to be tactically clever and be patient in building up your attacks, just like we did before we made it 1-0.

“After the equaliser, we immediately started creating pressure again. To make it 3-1 when we were also a man up was also very important. I wasn’t that happy with how we played after it was 4-1, because we were too hectic on the ball. Overall, however, it’s a deserved win.”

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Steffen Baumgart: “We conceded five goals today, which doesn’t feel good at all, but we need to deal with it. We won’t let it throw us off our path. We were fortunate to be able to get back in the game after going 1-0 down. We didn’t have as many chances beforehand as we would have wanted. After going behind from the spot and then having a man sent off, it obviously became very difficult.

“We tried to reorganise ourselves at half time, but then immediately conceded to make it 3-1. The game was more or less over from that point on. Gladbach did well with a man advantage. They let the ball do the work and out played us in certain situations.”

Hertha Berlin 2-2 Freiburg 

Sandro Schwarz: “We got into the game very well, had a lot of grip and had good transition moments. I found the second half to be very good in terms of football. It’s annoying that unfortunately we didn’t keep the three points here after such a performance.”

Lars Voßler: “I’m happy with the point. It feels good because it was a complicated game. I think it’s great that the team deserved the 2-2 draw.”

VfB Stuttgart 0-1 Union Berlin

Pellegrino Matarazzo: “That was quite a battle out there. There were plenty of duels and very few clear-cut chances. We did have some opportunities to take the lead though. I can’t fault the lads in terms of their effort and their commitment. If we’re going to win though, we need to score a goal – simple as that.”

Urs Fischer: “Of course I’m overjoyed. I think we had a bit of a problem in the first 20 or 30 minutes. We were too hectic and imprecise when playing the ball, so we kept inviting Stuttgart to become dangerous. In the second We were also able to improve our game with the ball in the second half. We then had the necessary competitive luck, which we needed today. But I also think that we put a lot into it.”

About Mathew Burt 1058 Articles
Former writer at Goal.com and JustFootball, I've been doing my thing for Bundesliga Fanatic since 2015. A long-suffering Werder Bremen fan and disciple of the Germanic holy trinity...Bier. Wurst und Fußball