"A defeat befitting of our current situation"

There was a great degree of disappointment after the 2-0 loss to TSG Hoffenheim. Both the players and those in charge at SV Werder Bremen were critical of their own performance. "We certainly didn’t play well today, and we’ve been much more impressive on the pitch in recent matches," said managing director for sport Clemens Fritz. We've gathered the key post-match reactions for you here on WERDER.DE:

Head coach Horst Steffen: “In the first half, Hoffenheim put us under a lot of pressure. During the break, we talked about how we could play through it. The red card obviously goes in our favour, but then you simply cannot concede a second straight after. That just makes things unnecessarily difficult. As the game drew to a close, we had plenty of deliveries into the box and a number of attempts on goal, but we weren’t decisive enough. We’ll keep working on our patterns of play, and we have to improve. Maybe it’s a good thing that we’re back in action fairly soon, so we won’t be dwelling on this game too much. We’re coming up against a side that isn’t pushing the top of the table in Borussia Mönchengladbach, but it will still be a tough match.”

Clemens Fritz, managing director for sport: “That was a defeat befitting of our current situation. We certainly didn’t play well today, and we’ve been much more impressive on the pitch in recent matches. Of course, it’s also not easy when four centre-backs are missing. Added to that, you concede a wonder goal just before half-time, but what absolutely cannot be allowed to happen is going 2-0 down a minute after a red card. In terms of attitude, I can’t fault the lads, but in the end, we couldn’t make anything come off. It’s a bitter one for sure.”

Senne Lynen: “We have to draw a negative conclusion from that game. We’ve been struggling in terms of results, and that’s hard to deal with. We’re professionals, and it hurts to not be winning games. We can’t put the ball in the back of the net, and at the back we concede one or two. The last three matches were decent, but today we just weren’t at the races.”

Jens Stage: “What we produced over the 90 minutes simply wasn’t enough. Even after the game, I don’t really have an answer for it. We played around 40 minutes with a man advantage, but just couldn’t make it count. We threw everything at it right until the final whistle, but our current form just isn’t up to scratch. That was not good enough. Saturday’s game is important, but today’s match was important too. We have to keep our heads up.”

Marco Grüll: “You should never simply accept a defeat, but you can’t say the loss was undeserved. Hoffenheim were the better side. After the red card, we just can’t go and concede the second goal. Towards the end of the game, we created a few chances, but we didn’t take them, and luck wasn’t on our side either.”