A game of two halves

Wolfsburg post-match reaction

Thomas Delaney & co. thank the travelling fans for their support. They, however, were not satisfied with the point (photo: nph).
First Team
Tuesday, 19.09.2017 / 21:50

They were annoyed. From Thomas Delaney to Fin Bartels to Theodor Gebre Selassie. Annoyed that even though they improved after a misfiring first half performance, they couldn’t get the ball over the line for a second time during a much-improved second 45 minutes. “It is really frustrating, after having so many goalscoring chances after the break, to not win the game. We need to win these sorts of games. A win would’ve been fully deserved,” Head coach Alexander Nouri said after the final whistle. The defensive set-up pleased the Werder coach, but he was not happy with his side’s lack of attacking threat in the first 45 minutes. “We weren’t courageous enough when we had possession in the first half. We had enough of the ball but we should’ve played the ball forward more quickly,” Nouri said. During the second half, however, the Green-Whites were a completely different side going forward.

WERDER.DE summarises the quotes after the Green-Whites put in a much-improved second half.

On the way the game played out:

Fin Bartels scored the equaliser (photo: nordphoto).

Alexander Nouri: “We were very compact in the first half, we didn’t concede too many chances but I would’ve liked us to attack more to relieve the pressure on the defence. We then didn’t regroup quicker enough after attacking. We wanted to avoid being left in one-on-one situations in defence. We didn’t defend well and went behind. I thought we were brilliant in the second half. We played a higher line, we pressed higher up the pitch and created more chances. We should’ve made the most of our dominance with a second goal. Because of all the clear chances we had, a win would’ve been fully deserved.

Robert Bauer: “We played too nervously in the first half. We tried to play deeper and to counter quickly. We didn’t do that well. We put that right at the break and we showed what we are all about in the second half. It was just that luck missing in a few attacking positions.”

Fin Bartels: “We wanted to let Wolfsburg have the ball and switch to attack quickly and score on the counter. We closed down the space well but we didn’t do enough in attack. We were much better in attack in the second half.”

Thomas Delaney: “We played so much better in the second half than the first. The first half wasn’t good at all but in the end we didn’t do enough to get the three points. We were really off the pace in the first half and didn’t get a grip of the game at all.”

Theodor Gebre Selassie: “We knew at the break that we needed to do more in the second half. We stepped up to the task really well after half time.”

On getting a point:

Alexander Nouri: “We are concentrating on one thing now: the next opponent. We need to approach the game differently. Obviously I’m not satisfied with the result today but I was pleased with the way we went about the second half and our performance. We have to make our own luck, through hard work and by concentrating even more in the decisive parts of the game.”

Fin Bartels: “We have played three games back-to-back now that we could’ve won but we haven’t got our just reward from any of them. We have to put our all into getting the three points at home against Freiburg. After our performance in the second half, I’m optimistic that we can get the first win.”

Thomas Delaney: “A point is not really enough today. We had a few big chances that we should’ve taken. We know that we are in a tough situation and we can only get out of it by putting in 100 per cent. 99 per cent isn’t enough.”

Milos Veljkovic: “I think the game was there for the taking today. We had the better chances in the second half. We needed to be more clinical to get the win.”

On the injuries in the squad:

Milos Veljkovic played as the central centre-back against Wolfsburg (photo: nordphoto).

Alexander Nouri: “Of course we’ve got quite a few players out with the long-term absences of Niklas Moisander and Zlatko Junuzovic and now with Max Kruse and Lamine Sané out. We coped with that as a team and tried to compensate for their losses.”

Robert Bauer: “We knew it would be tight for Lamine Sané to be back after the Schalke game. But at centre-back, everyone knows what is required of them and Luca knew how to integrate into the backline. Obviously the boys out at the moment are big losses. However I think we showed that we can play well without them. We did that especially well in the second half.”

Milos Veljkovic: “We had three good centre-backs tonight. I liked the central centre-back role.”

Theodor Gebre Selassie: “You could see how well Ishak will fit into the team. He is really useful for us.”

On the pep talk from Thomas Delaney before the second half:

Luca Caldirola: “It was really important that Thomas got us all together before the second half. He said we could turn the game around and that the game was still there for the taking.”

Fin Bartels: “Thomas reminded us that we all needed to work together. The game wasn’t gone and we needed to switch on. We did that in the second half.”

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