Werder fought and showed a lot of passion but were unlucky to lose 2-1 against VfB Stuttgart. Although SV Werder put in one of their best performances of the season, they came away empty-handed. “I saw us today play very well and we were so mentally strong,” said Max Kruse. However, even though he knew they played well, the captain was self critical after the game. “We were unable to finish our chances,” summed up Maximilian Eggestein.
Nuri Sahin: “It was a game that we shouldn’t have lost. Despite going down to ten men, we were the better team. We didn’t look like we were playing with ten men and so it is a disappointing result.”
Max Kruse: “We did what we did at Hertha and dominated for 80 minutes. They will have sat in their changing room at half time and not known why they were in the lead. We played some great football today again. Rarely has the outnumbered team been so dominant, played so well and competed. We have to realise we failed in front of goal and did not take our chances and that is why we lost.
Maximilian Eggestein: “We are extremely disappointed because we deserved more. Their goal was too easy to concede and we were unable to convert our chances. Claudio hit the post, I hit the post – we should have scored our chances. We didn’t lose because we didn’t put in enough effort. We found solutions on football terms and we were the better team.”
Claudio Pizarro: “It was a good performance in a complicated game. We will rise again.”
Milos Veljkovic: “I think that we played well. I am sorry for being sent off but the team reacted well. I am happy that we tried our hardest and fought until the end. We were braver, we wanted it more but we lost the chance to take three points.”
Florian Kohfeldt: “We lost the game because we made some bad decisions. When we were 1-0 down, we failed to defend against the counterattack. Suddenly we were on the back foot and we didn’t know why. We were 1-0 down but kept flowing forward. We tried everything to get the win. Then I look to myself. Of course I can criticise the changes I made in attack. I told the lads during the break that we really want to win and get the three points. That’s why we tried everything and the performance was outstanding. I cannot blame the boys.”
Frank Baumann: “Of course it annoys us but we are happy that we put in a good performance and at the end of the week we are in a good position. We played well from the first minute. We lost through our own mistakes and that decided the game. Today’s performance is a sign that we are moving in the right direction.”
Milos Veljkovic: “The first yellow card was a foul from me. I can argue about the first one but the second one was definitely my fault. It should not have happened and I am sorry to the team.”
Florian Kohfeldt: “Milos know himself where he went wrong. He has often given us good performances and points so we have to protect him today.”
Maximilian Eggestein: “You always take these goals. I feel bad for Robert Zieler though. It is not nice for these moments to happen.”
Florian Kohfeldt: “It was an unusual situation which I didn’t see because I reckoned he would kick it up field and I had already turned to see where the ball would land. For him, I wish mistakes like this would never happen to any player.”
Milos Veljkovic: “That was a lapse in concentration from the keeper, which can happen to anyone. In this phase we had been pressing well. We simply had to get a goal.”
