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 11.
Mainz 5-0 Köln
Bo Svensson: “We’re happy that we’ve finally won at home. I’m very happy with the way we managed this combination of three games. We’ve had six intense days with three games, all of which we won with a clean sheet, that’s it Of course it was outstanding. We played in different constellations, many players did well and, above all, we were convincing as a team, which makes me happy.
“I really enjoyed it and am proud of what we achieved this week. I already had a good feeling after the games against Freiburg and Leipzig with the way we performed and presented ourselves. It’s important that the team is right, because that secures the points for us in the long term. The values we stand for and the style of play that we want to show also secure our identity and ultimately our success.”
Steffen Baumgart: “The game took a wrong turn with the yellow/red card. It is unacceptable that we started the game giving the opponent two goals. With a man extra Mainz did well. Kili had to run the line before the yellow/red card not take the man out.
“But what annoys me more is that everyone made far too many mistakes. That’s how it is in the Bundesliga. We have to defend better. Today we’ve had too many situations that aren’t good for our game. And then you have teams like Mainz that take advantage of something like that.”
Borussia Dortmund 5-0 VfB Stuttgart
Edin Terzic: “We didn’t want to be counting on the hope that the opponent might offer a little less today; instead, we wanted to go into this game with the conviction that we would come away as winners. Taking the lead early made it a little bit easier. We counter-pressed really well in the first half, with a lot of ball recoveries high up. They were all team goals. We won the ball as a team, and we linked up as a team in order to have sufficient time to get into the penalty area.
“We have to continue in exactly this vein now – and not praise too much. We don’t want to settle for one win; we want to start a run now.
“We’re hoping we can draw a lot of positive energy and self-belief from this. We’ve frequently lacked effectiveness in recent weeks. Today we had a lot of chances and that also increased the probability of scoring. It’s good for us not to have to rant quite so much.”
Michael Wimmer: “We wanted to play boldly, but we didn’t succeed. We did quite well with the ball, but not with the ultimate conviction. It wasn’t good defensively, we weren’t compact in any phase, which is what we had actually planned to do. The victory is well deserved for Dortmund.”
Hoffenheim 0-2 Bayern Munich
Andre Breitenreiter: “You need luck in these kind of games, and to score goals. Bayern were dominant in the first half. We wanted to defend high up the pitch and with aggression, but you can’t keep everything out. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score. It was a relatively balanced game, but we couldn’t deliver in front of goal. It’s a shame, but Bayern fully deserved to win.”
Julian Nagelsmann: “I’m very happy with the performance. The first 35 minutes were world-class – we played some exceptionally good football, had plenty of chances to score and put them under intense pressure. We gave very little away, but then dropped off for 10 minutes. That’s when they had two good chances, and Ulle [Sven Ulreich] made two superb saves.”
Freiburg 2-0 Werder Bremen
Christian Streich: “It was good up to the red card, but without the red card it would have been a 50-50 game. It took us a while after that, the half-time was good. The team defended very well and were able to build up pressure again and again.
“I’m really happy to win against such a team. Of course, it was a big advantage to play 11:10, but you have to play that cleanly too.”
Ole Werner: “I can’t really blame my team too much today. We defended with our bodies on the line, but at the end of the day they couldn’t keep running to close down every gap. Freiburg also did well themselves.
“The only thing we can be frustrated with the lads for is the way the red card and penalty came about. We needed to be more aware in both situations so that the danger doesn’t pose itself in the first place.”
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 VfL Wolfsburg
Xabi Alonso: “The result isn’t good. We’re not happy. But it was important that the team found order after conceding the second goal. We can build on that performance.”
Niko Kovac: “All in all, we were 2-1 up and would have liked to have brought it home. I’m still happy with the point. It’s very difficult to score points in Leverkusen, even in the current situation.”
Augsburg 3-3 RB Leipzig
Enrico Maaßen: “We played a great game up until the red card. The lads were giving it everything and it was a high-risk game in the first half, because we were pressing hard and taking risks. We were deservedly in front at the break, and then scored to make it 2-0 and 3-0 in the second half. From that point on, we cannot allow ourselves to be provoked like that.
“It was a deserved sending off, and that moment was a real turning point in the game. We had a two-goal lead up until the final two minutes of the game, and we need to be better organised on both their goals at the end. It’s extremely frustrating to not have won tonight.”
Marco Rose: “We had expected to come up against a very intense Augsburg press, and that it would be difficult to get into the final third and play our game. We had come up with a couple of solutions, but were often lacking that final pass or the play was broken up by Augsburg. Emil Forsberg had a great chance to score, but then we lost control of the game and conceded a penalty as well as two more goals from set pieces.
“Then came the red card, and we were able to get back in the game and take advantage. Augsburg were defending deep, so we were able to make use of the space and score three goals. Of course we would have liked to have won here, but we will take the point.”
Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-3 Eintracht Frankfurt
Daniel Farke: Frankfurt were clinical in the final third today and deserved to get the win. It felt a little surreal to find ourselves 3-0 down at half time because I didn’t think there was much between the teams. The only difference was their clinical edge. Frankfurt were able to make the most of their opportunities and we weren’t. We were too eager and were too optimistic with some of our passes. Frankfurt were particularly strong on the counter.
Oliver Glasner: I think that we deserved the win. We implemented our match plan in the first half perfectly; we were switched on when we won the ball and used our pace in attack to good effect with real efficiency. I feel we actually controlled the game in the second half, but we let Gladbach back into it with an unnecessary mistake. We’re very happy overall though.
VfL Bochum 2-1 Union Berlin
Thomas Letsch: “Today we managed to build up pressure from the first minute, to attack the opponent and to be ready for the second ball. The team showed extreme intensity and passion. I think everyone in the stadium noticed that the team really wanted this sense of achievement. We made it 1-0 at a good time before half-time. Gerrit Holtmann then made it 2-0 after a fantastic combination, which is probably written in the textbook. The game could have tipped over again from the back, but the bottom line is that we are the deserved winners. Now it’s a matter of playing the same way away from home and scoring points.
Urs Fischer: Compliments and congratulations to Thomas Letsch and VfL on the win. It’s a deserved defeat. Bochum was cheekier and more agile over the 90 minutes. They ate us up in the first half, we didn’t have many answers. We were too imprecise in the last 30 meters, but the team tried everything. The goal could have gotten hot again, but in the end we have to accept this deserved defeat.
Hertha Berlin 2-1 Schalke
Sandro Schwarz: “It was a really difficult game today. Schalke were set up really well. We started brightly and had a few chances in the box. Once we had the ball, we couldn’t find enough space. Winning such a tough game like this in the way we did was simply a dream for us.”
Matthias Kreutzer: “We’re unfortunately going to head home with no points. We came really close tonight and just need to see the game out better next time. This performance was how we need to perform. We have to play like this again and then get what we deserve.”
