SV Werder Bremen did not give too much to the Frankfurt side, which is strong in attack, on Saturday evening, but were not penetrative enough themselves to take away any points at the end. The Green-Whites therefore had to admit that the 2-0 defeat against Eintracht was deserved. Here is what head coach Ole Werner and the players said in assessment of the match.
Head coach Ole Werner: “That was not the start you need to play away here at Eintracht Frankfurt. We only have ourselves to blame for this. When you come here and play, you need to try and give yourselves that bit of courage at the start, which we ultimately lacked today, both in our own possession and in defence. We played much deeper and were more passive in areas than we had planned to be, but that’s how it went today. Despite all that, the game was open, it was 1-0 at half time. Overall, however, we lacked the quality and intensity today to pose problems for a team like that. The second goal decided the game.”
Marco Friedl: “Today we weren't on it 100 percent, which we had to be to stay in the game here. We had a lot of space, Eintracht let us keep the ball a lot, but we didn't manage to use that possession in any way to create chances to score. That’s why we deserved the defeat after 90 minutes; every single one of us lacked the final touch today. Before the own goal, I was in a similar situation where I had to risk everything to clear the ball. I didn’t have a second to react. The only thing I can blame myself for is not positioning myself well enough.”
Niclas Füllkrug: “We came up against a very good opponent today. But that doesn’t change the fact that we lack the courage and willingness at the moment to take risks. We have good passages but then often play the ball backwards. We have to be more determined again, because that way we won't create any chances. The harsh reality is that Dortmund and Frankfurt are in a different league to us at the moment.”
Amos Pieper: “We deserved to lose. We were not brave enough in possession or in defence. We lost the ball a lot in promising situations where we had created good openings and found space well. Now and again luck wasn’t on our side in 50-50 situations, but you can work for those, too. We hardly had a chance to score in the game, that’s why we deserved it. Of course it didn’t start well, but we nevertheless actually played well in the game. We had ideas, even if they weren’t always good ones, because we lost the ball a lot. In the end, we couldn’t utilise those spaces.”
