Thoughts on the game:
Zlatko Junuzovic: “We are all very disappointed. We got off to a decent start and finally managed to take a lead again. But we simply concede goals too easily and punish ourselves through that. Overall it was a hectic game - lots of long balls forward, many challenges and fouls. A clear mental state is very important, but we had a mental block and that makes it difficult to play football.”
Thomas Eichin: “We are very upset about this draw. I can’t blame the team for their commitment, but the relegation battle is all about mental strength. Luck is not on our side and defensively we sometimes lack the necessary consistency in decisive situations.”
Fin Bartels: “It was the expected difficult game. We invested a lot but conceded another silly goal. Our comeback attempt in the closing stages fell just short.”
Felix Wiedwald: “We took the lead and should’ve held onto it. Obviously we are not satisfied. We had chances to retake the lead, but couldn’t take them.”
Viktor Skripnik: “This is the relegation battle. Both teams looked scared at the start of the game and made mistakes. After that both went at full throttle. We weren’t efficient enough and conceded many unnecessary set-pieces, which has been a problem for us the last couple of games. Adding onto that is the fact that we are scoring too few goals, although we controlled the opposition in the second half today. A simple chip into our area is enough to see us concede another goal.”
Thoughts on the penalty decision shortly before the break:
Felix Wiedwald: “The ball was played into the channel, I made contact with their player and we concede a very unfortunate penalty just before the break. It was a setback psychologically.”
Zlatko Junuzovic: “We should’ve cleared the situation beforehand. We had three or four fifty-fifty challenges in the build-up.”
Thomas Eichin: “The decision was fair. But the referee lacked a clear line overall today, particularly in assessing aerial duels. The players often didn’t know what would be deemed a foul and what wouldn’t, which played into Darmstadt’s hands since they take their attacking set-pieces very well.”
