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 19.
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Mainz
Dino Toppmöller: “We’re lucky winners. We have to be better going forward and be more dominant in front of a capacity crowd of 58,000. We’re very happy we were able to get the win for Peter Fischer in his final home game, even if we wanted it to be more of an attractive one.”
Martin Schmidt (sporting director): “Basically there were no chances on either side. It was a typical 0-0 game. Millimeters decided today. That’s typical when you’re at the bottom and it made the difference. That’s how you leave as a loser. But it still goes on. We were solid over long stretches, but not brave enough offensively and without the ability to carry it through.”
VfL Wolfsburg 1-1 Köln
Niko Kovac: “We’re treading water at the moment, but that’s how it is when you draw. Both teams played very intense football for over 90 minutes, did a lot of running and sprinting and ultimately gave everything to win this game. I think we had slightly better chances, but the bottom line is that the draw is okay.”
Timo Schultz: “We have spoken about the phase of play following a goal, for or against us. We need to be more awake there, we could defend it better or make a tactical foul. There were enough situations that we’ve seen, where the penalty would have been given. The referee made his decision and we can’t influence things any more than that.”
Hoffenheim 1-1 Heidenheim
Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We wanted to take a more dominant approach. When we had the ball, we wanted to control the game and have a good remaining defense. Defensively we pressed high, and that worked well at the beginning. The crux of the game is the goal conceded and the errors in our passing game. Unfortunately we played against a very good goalkeeper today. The luck of the game is currently not on our side. We have to work for that. We have to invest even more. If it changes, it won’t just change for one game, but for several weeks.”
Frank Schmidt: “We are very happy, a point away from home as a promoted team in Hoffenheim, against a team in the top half of the table, is always good. The only weak time was the ten minutes after half-time, when we allowed three big chances. Otherwise the game could have gone either way. We deservedly took the lead, then conceded an annoying equalizer with the penalty. We are now six games undefeated, so our self-confidence is getting bigger and bigger.”
Werder Bremen 3-1 Freiburg
Ole Werner: “We’ve stood up to two top teams from the Bundesliga and that gives us a good feeling. Even if it’s a high level of complaining now, we didn’t really find the connection to the ball in the first half. Things went better in the second half, but we’re not at the end of the road yet.”
Christian Streich: “Bremen was more solid. We had individual performances that weren’t good enough and couldn’t assert ourselves. Deserved victory for Bremen because we weren’t good enough and Bremen were good.
“I don’t want to make excuses, but we just have too many people who aren’t at 100 percent. You saw that in the second half. Bremen had more steam in the second half.”
Augsburg 2-3 Bayern Munich
Jess Thorup: “We lacked a bit of luck today. We did very well, put the opponent under pressure and created chances. Many 50:50 situations didn’t work out for us. You also need luck against an opponent like Bayern. The team showed character and morale right to the end. The possibilities were there too. I’m happy with the performance.”
Thomas Tuchel: “We are delighted with the result. We knew it would be a difficult game. Augsburg’s results against the top six at home speak for themselves. We knew what to expect, that we had to accept the hard work to find our rhythm. We were a bit lucky at the beginning, but then got into the game better. We found the right answer to the 2:1. Things got a bit wild at the back. These are extremely important points, but also a compliment to Augsburg for their performance. I’m very happy with the team’s attitude.”
VfB Stuttgart 5-2 RB Leipzig
Sebastian Hoeneß: “Today, a lot of what we had planned came true. We’re getting into the game well, we wanted to be brave and active and not let Leipzig get into the game. We brought an energy onto the pitch that was noticeable. We created promising situations, were clever in our actions and didn’t allow much defensively. Even the quick goal to make it 1:2 didn’t upset us.
“After the break we came out outstanding with the support of our fans and scored 3-1 straight away. After conceding again, we scored an important 4-2 and then we pulled the plug on our opponent. It was a deserved win, which is very high, and a great performance. I’m extremely proud of my team, who handled the game situations outstandingly today.”
Marco Rose: “Today, unfortunately, exactly what we wanted to prevent happened. The results of the last few weeks have left their mark. There were too many mistakes that we made right from the start. The game with the ball wasn’t good, we didn’t have one Get access to the game .
“In the end, Stuttgart deserved to win. We now have to work hard to improve the situation as quickly as possible.”
Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Xabi Alonso: “We put in a lot of effort, but were often too imprecise in the conclusion. Borussia did well defensively and defended compactly. It’s a shame for us that we didn’t win, we did enough to win. But it wasn’t precise enough in the penalty area. There was something missing. We had a lot of control of the game and Gladbach defended deeply. We will analyze this carefully because we can use the game for the future to learn what we can do better to defeat an opponent who defends so deeply. But we remain positive and are confident going into the next games.”
Gerardo Seoane: “We knew that we needed an extremely good defensive performance to survive in Leverkusen. We brought this, so we’re happy to take the point with us. He’s good for us after the home defeat against Augsburg. We were forced to act very defensively, but it has to be emphasized that the team accepted it and took on the tasks, which are certainly a little less fun. We had an excellent goalkeeper and defended well and deep. Nevertheless, we allowed one or two chances, but this time the luck was on our side.”
Union Berlin 1-0 Darmstadt
Marie-Louise Eta (assistant): “We are happy about the important victory here at home. It was the expected competitive game with many duels and duels in the midfield. Neither team wanted to risk too much. Instead, it was more of a feel-out. Darmstadt made it flexible with the ball. We had to see how we could gain access to the ball. We had one or two chances in the first half, but so did Darmstadt.
“Overall, we defended everything very well. In the second half we wanted to be more determined with the ball. The team came back onto the pitch with a lot of energy. And in my opinion it was in the air that we were more likely to score the goal. The 1-0 is a great counterattack. So we’re happy that it turned out that way in the end.”
Torsten Lieberknecht: “Congratulations to Union Berlin on their victory. It’s a disappointing result and a disappointing day for us. Some boys didn’t play at their best today, you could feel a certain nervousness. In the first half, both teams met each other very tactically. There were no massive scoring chances on either side. We had some good finishes, but Union threw every foot in the box.
“Overall, we were too hesitant when we got into position. So in the end it is the narrowest possible result in favour of Union Berlin. We are disappointed because we didn’t take a possible point. We have to get back up now and hold our heads high.”
Borussia Dortmund 3-1 VfL Bochum
Edin Terzic: “We are happy that we achieved our third win in a row today. We started the game well and generally got off to a good start. But today we didn’t manage to use our many situations to reach a conclusion. Far too rarely have we found a clear conclusion. Otherwise there was another improvement in many areas. But we didn’t like a few things so much. But conceding a goal to make it 1-1 didn’t throw us off track.
“We adjusted a few things in the second half. Bochum started out more aggressively, more in the shape of a diamond, but we responded well to that. The guys who came in did their part. We are very satisfied and know that this was just the next step.”
Thomas Letsch: “I think if you get a penalty against you after three minutes in a game like this in this stadium, then it will be difficult. The way we overcame it and came back was impressive in my opinion. We weren’t the worse team in the first half. It was a very even game. We didn’t reward ourselves. We wanted to continue playing courageously in the second half and took the courageous approach.
“There was a phase in the second half where the game could have been overturned. It became restless in the stadium. We had chances from Matus Bero, Christopher Antwi-Adjei and two chances from Patrick Osterhage. With a bit of luck we’ll score the second goal. But we didn’t take advantage of that phase, then the second wave came from BVB. In the one situation where we made it 1-2, we didn’t defend well.
“Nevertheless, we carried on and continued to believe that we could take something with us. In the end it wasn’t enough. I’m disappointed, but I’m extremely proud of the team. We have a great team, the team showed that today. We fought and played good football. Even though we didn’t reward ourselves today, I think that if we continue like this we will reward ourselves with points.”
