SV Werder found it tough for large parts of their last away game of the season against FC Erzgebirge Aue, only eventually putting the game to bed via two goals in second-half injury time. Before then, they hard to work hard to protect their narrow 1-0 lead. “At the end of the day we showed our quality and stayed patient, and I’m pleased we did that,” explained goalscorer Niclas Füllkrug after full-time.
WERDER.DE summarises the match reaction from the game:
Niclas Füllkrug: “3-0 makes it seem easier than it was, but you could see that the game was much more difficult than that. You go into a game like this trying to make sure you don’t have any problems at the back. We gave the ball away a lot and weren’t performing to our usual standards individually. At the end of the day, though, we showed our quality and stayed patient. We turned up the pressure in the second half and took a deserved lead. It was great to see a defender opening the scoring – we needed it to get into our attacking groove. It was a hard-fought victory. We had a lot of possession and our build-up play was nice, but on too many occasions the final pass was lacking. A set-piece goal is therefore a massive help. I’m really pleased. We didn’t give up today and kept a clear head. We were able to get the two goals late on and make it a more favourable result.”
Niklas Schmidt: “It doesn’t matter how, but we won the game. Just like Schalke managed to win somehow yesterday, we had to do the same thing – win. I’m not bothered about how we did it, just that we did it. We got the three points and want to finish things off well next week.”
Marco Friedl: “It was a hard-fought victory. We knew it was going to be tough because Aue lost heavily the week before and it was their final home game of the season. They’re already down and so they had nothing to lose. We had the majority of possession in the first half but also allowed them one or two chances. We spoke a lot about that during the break. We’ve been in control of our own destiny since Friday, we were fully aware of that. We controlled the game better after the break and took a deserved lead. Despite not playing out some chances as well as we could have, we definitely deserved to win today.”
Ole Werner: “We’re pleased to have won today. It was certainly an important victory. And now we move on to focus on next week. I’m pleased but also relieved that the game is over and that we won the three points. Marco Friedl’s goal came during an important phase of the game during which we came out for the second half and began to be more decisive in turning the game into our favour. We had a few problems in the first half and needed a change of rhythm. Our only two chances were a ball across the box that was too imprecise and then Romano Schmid also had an opportunity to give us the lead, and so it was very important that Marco Friedl was on hand to give us the lead from the set-piece.”
Niclas Füllkrug: “I’ve never had an easy game in Aue. The fact that I said I wanted to win as many goals as possible wasn’t intended to disrespect our opponents, it’s just that the goal difference is so close. It would have been the same situation regardless of the opposition. You could see our our approach to the game was somewhat cautious, but one thing was clear in that we wanted to win the game.”
Leonardo Bittencourt: “At the end of the day, we’re not bothered who we play against. We simply need to pick up points. You can’t say that because Aue lost last week they were going to lose again today. No player wants to experience that week in, week out and we sensed that was the case early on, which made it a difficult game. Overall, I think we deserved to win.”
Niklas Schmidt: “We took today’s task very seriously. Of course Aue wanted to bid farewell in a positive manner in their final home game of this Bundesliga 2 season. They lost 6-0 last week, so that made us think that today’s match would be a matter of staying patient. We had some good phases in the first half and then other phases where our play was somewhat awkward. The coach said the right things to us at half time and told us to “keep patient”, and that’s what we did on the pitch. We kept positive and are really happy to have come away with the victory.”
Ole Werner: “A lot was being spoken about us from the outside, but we were discussing things differently within the team, as is often the case. It was clear to us today that it wasn’t going to be easy here today, and we knew with just two games to go, we were under some pressure which we had to withstand. Aue also wanted to give a better account of themselves after last week and we had to watch out for that.”
Niclas Füllkrug: “I’ve not thought about next week’s game yet. It’ll be very emotional, but we need to keep a cool head and dominate the game, stay calm and patient, and play like we do every week. We’re hoping to make our fans happy. We’re staying humble and relaxed. We’re not going to play for a point – it’s a home game and we really want to play well and win. I’m proud and pleased that we managed to win today. We’ve got a really important fixture coming up next week and so begins our period of regeneration for that game on Sunday.”
Leonardo Bittencourt: “We didn’t care about Friday’s and Saturday’s results, so long as we regained control of our own destiny. We’re going to keep looking forward and our focus now turns to Regensburg. We’re only worrying about what we have to do, not about others. We simply want to win next Sunday.”
Marco Friedl: “We’re going to get cracking with our preparations for Regensburg. We know exactly what’s on the cards and what sort of a position we’ve worked for ourselves, despite being so far off the pace. Today’s win is nice, but it only matters if we also win next week. We messed up last week and there are plenty of teams hot on our heels, so we absolutely need to win next week.”
Niklas Schmidt: “It’s good for us to have control over our own destiny again. It’ll give us some confidence. We cannot afford to let up for a second. The trainer told us in the huddle that we can be pleased with ourselves today. From tomorrow, our focus turns to Regensburg. We’ve still got one game to go and we want it to go well. It’ll be a tough game next week, but one that we absolutely want to win.”
Ole Werner: “I’m looking forward to the game next week. I’m anticipating that we’ll be up for the game given what’s at stake. However, our first thought is going towards the work that needs doing ahead of the game, and that work starts tomorrow, today even, because we need to recover well and then perform well at training during the week so that we’re best prepared to play well against Regensburg.”
Marco Friedl: “The fans were amazing. It’s great for me as a player that they support us so well! Our fans are unbelievable and they prove that every time, not just today. I’m so glad we were able to give something back to them today. Thanks to all our fans!”
Niklas Schmidt: “Absolutely phenomenal. Every car en route to the stadium was honking us. It reminded us that we didn’t just have the support of the 1,000 fans in the ground today, but much more than that. We were really pleased to see so many there today. I don’t think you need to say much about our fans, other than they’re unbelievable and give us an incredible boost on the pitch, and we really want to give them something back now.”
Ole Werner: “Today was almost like a home game in terms of the atmosphere and the support. Everywhere you looked, not just in the home stand, you could see green and white – that’s how it needed to be and it certainly gave us an extra push today.”
