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 29.
Augsburg 1-1 VfB Stuttgart
Enrico Maaßen: “We played very well in the first half, being good on the ball and investing a lot in the game. It’s incredibly tough that we had to make five changes due to various knocks and injuries. That meant we lost our power, especially going forward. We started taking big risks, perhaps a bit too much, and that got Stuttgart back in the game.
“All in all, they were able to bring more power off the bench and it’s incredibly annoying to have conceded another goal from a set-piece. We would have loved to have won the game, but the minimum aim was for us to keep the gap to VfB and we’ve done that.”
Sebastian Hoeneß: “It was an intense, fast-paced game – that was what we expected, as Augsburg can really make life difficult for you. They got their reward with the opening goal, and we missed the chance for an equaliser. It was an open, back-and-forth game, but both teams failed to create big chances.
“We were missing some depth – we made some changes for that and things got a huge amount better. We pressed to turn the game in our favour, bit by bit. We defended in a disciplined way, scored the goal late on and then kept pushing for more. We’re not happy with the result, but we’ll take a point and we can be proud of our second-half performance.”
Mainz 3-1 Bayern Munich
Bo Svensson: “It was an extremely difficult first half, luckily we only went into the break 0-1. The second half was a tad better. After the 1-1 you noticed that the belief, the energy, the momentum were there, that we were better then. I’m proud of my boys, including the ones that came on.”
Thomas Tuchel: “There was no need to lose the game, a game that we had under control. We weren’t focused, we weren’t clear enough to score the second goal. We got the equalizer out of absolutely nothing and didn’t have the energy to react to it. Then it goes there and we get three goals in twelve minutes. We couldn’t get up any more.
“When things go wrong, it’s brutally difficult for us as a team to get a key and a spirit to rebel and fight back. The determination, the effectiveness to decide the matter for us were missing. We’re struggling to win games right now. The energy is missing.”
Hertha Berlin 2-4 Werder Bremen
Pal Dardai: “That’s football. I was mentally prepared for a defeat. We conceded a goal straight away, the team was blocked. The pressure was a huge problem, we urgently need to do something to solve the blockage. We don’t need to talk about how the game went, it was a matter of mind in this situation. We weren’t brave, Bremen deserved to win.”
Ole Werner: “The conditions were exceptional today: different stadium but the atmosphere was a home game. The fans carried us. It was important for us to get off to a good start. Then a lot went our way, we defended in a disciplined manner and played football. From my point of view, those were the things that made the difference.”
Hoffenheim 1-3 Köln
Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We started the game okay, the big break came after we conceded a goal. The first half didn’t live up to our expectations. In the second half we didn’t have enough power to turn the game around, we made the wrong decision too many times.”
Steffen Baumgart: “It was a good performance over 90 minutes. The first half was very good. In the second half it was an open exchange of blows. It wasn’t an undeserved win, which we’re very happy to take with us.”
Vfl Bochum 1-5 VfL Wolfsburg
Thomas Letsch: “We did a lot of things well, even if it sounds strange after a 1:5. In the decisive moments we did too badly, made mistakes, made it too easy for the opponent. It didn’t feel like 0: 3 on the pitch. Then after half-time you constrict the opponent, make another catastrophic mistake and it’s 0: 4. But when I see the atmosphere here, how all of Bochum is behind the team, then that makes me optimistic.”
Niko Kovac: “We’re happy, we’re satisfied, the result says a lot about us. We did really well in the first half, we found the free players, we were also a bit lucky in some situations, and we were also very present in defence. What I was definitely not satisfied with, was the second half, but the bottom line is that the win is okay.”
Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
Edin Terzic: “We’re happy with the performance and the result. But it’s just a step we’ve taken. Every player wanted to show that what we showed last week in Stuttgart in the second half is not our own aspiration and it is not what we deserve considering what we have invested over the course of the season so far . We’re very happy with the game today, but we’re still not happy and we still have a lot of work to do.
“We got together on Sunday and looked at the scenes that worked well in the first half. Inexplicably, we stopped doing that in the second half, did less in all areas and passed the responsibility on to the man next to us. It hurt to look at the pictures again. It was about steering everything in the right direction. We can’t get back the two points that we left behind. We can only make sure that the point we took away from that is that we have something to celebrate at the end.”
Oliver Glasner: “The defeat and the way it happened hurt because in the first half we played well and were leading 7-4 in terms of shots at one stage. We were right in the game and had one or two very good chances to score. To suddenly be 3-0 down is disappointing, but BVB were better in both penalty areas. That’s where games are decided and that’s why we lost today. The knockout blows were the three goals we conceded in the first half. We couldn’t keep up with Borussia’s high tempo, and they were very clinical.
“We didn’t take our chances up front and conceded goals too easily at the back. We tried everything we could after the break, but Dortmund were too focused. We’ll analyse this game objectively and calmly. Then we’ll have to find solutions. We have to put an end to our defensive vulnerability and rediscover our efficiency in the final third. Those are the two main topics for us to work on.”
Freiburg 4-0 Schalke
Christian Streich: “We played well, worked well, were present. And on the defensive we didn’t allow much. My team knew what to expect. And we were determined, so we were able to win the game. It just works on a day like this. We managed to create a lot of chances. It is important that we remain focussed now.
Thomas Reis: “We made it too easy for a good opponent. We wanted to be aggressive and we knew we were going to have a lot of one-on-ones. We won these situations against Hertha BSC last week, but lost seriously this time. We also made too many technical mistakes while in possession. In the end we can almost be happy that it was “only” a 0-4 because Freiburg had a few more good chances. Between the 88th and 91st minutes alone, we were partially negligent.
“Defeat hurts, but we keep going. We want and have to do better against Werder Bremen and show a different face. We managed to do that against the Berliners recently. The important thing is that when we fall, we always get back up. This mentality is in the team, it has shown that several times. Everything is still possible in the fight for relegation.”
Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 RB Leipzig
Xabi Alonso: “I’m very proud of the team. If you don’t play well, you have to be ready to fight and suffer. The team was ready for it. It might not have been our best game, but the three points are the most important thing for us. Now we have some time to recover.”
Marco Rose: “The team put a lot into the game and were the much more dominant side, but Leverkusen are the ones going home with the points and that is really disappointing. That’s another of a number of games this season that we simply shouldn’t have lost.
“We started the game really well but we began to get sucked in more and more to the pace of the game that they wanted to play. We weren’t clinical or sharp enough in the final third and Leverkusen work really hard in defence; we have to get better in these situations. We still need too many chances to score goals.”
Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-1 Union Berlin
Daniel Farke: “We have to accept the defeat for two reasons. Firstly, we lost to a very good opponent – third place is no coincidence, Union has this top quality. The second reason: we had possession of the ball but didn’t reach our optimum in the opposing half. You have to be very precise against Union. Then we made a mistake and football is a game of mistakes.”
Urs Fischer: “We are very satisfied – not only with the result, but also with the performance. It was a very disciplined performance, we had a very good, compact organization for 90 minutes. We didn’t have a phase in the game , where we once slacked off. In the end, we deserved to win.”
