"Too ineffective to take anything"

It was the same sort of game that we’ve seen week on week now. SV Werder Bremen produced a promising performance against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, but when the final whistle blew, there were no celebrations from the Green-Whites after suffering a 1-0 defeat away from home. There was an understandable sense of disappointment in the mixed zone after the game, where we gathered the key post-match reactions.

Head coach Horst Steffen: “I thought the first few minutes were really positive. We applied the pressure and should have been able to do better in finding our way through them. I would have been really intrigued to see how the game would have turned out if we’d managed to make it 1-1. As it was, we were chasing a lead, and we did well to not allow them much on the break, although we struggled to create too many chances for ourselves. We should have made better use of the chances that we had in the 18-yard box, but we simply made the wrong decisions. The boys gave everything today to try and find the leveller, but we just didn’t manage to pull it off. We have to cross the game off now and pick ourselves up.”

Captain Marco Friedl: “We found it really difficult early on with how flexible they are in their positioning, but in that second half, we fared better in dealing with them. I was surprised by how much of the ball they allowed us to have. We were the more active team, but we just weren’t able to create any danger and were essentially too ineffective to take anything from the game today. It’s frustrating when you play a good game and then leave without even a single point.”

Jens Stage: “The game and the performance were okay – normally we could be satisfied with a match like that. It’s an awful feeling to stand here with zero points, though. That first goal was decisive today. Leverkusen sat deep to defend in the second half, so we had to keep trying to play through their whole team. We have to keep working and pick up points on Tuesday night.”

Goalkeeper Mio Backhaus: “We're all very disappointed, because we know we could have got more out of that. It's a different kind of disappointment when you play badly and lose to when you feel good and still take nothing - today was definitely the latter and it’s not a nice feeling. We did a lot of things well today, but we just lacked any kind of cutting edge in the final third.”

Managing director for sport Clemens Fritz: “It’s a mixed feeling tonight, because we played well overall. In the first half especially, we defended courageously from the front and found the space well. Ultimately, though, we didn’t score and once again have nothing to show for the performance, and that’s bitter right now. For the goal we conceded, we have to hold our hands up and say we weren’t tight enough. Nevertheless, I see a team that is putting in the work, wants it badly and will turn things around. Now we have to fight our way back out of the situation we’re in.”