SV Werder Bremen suffered their third loss in a week as they went down 2-0 away at SC Freiburg. An early Marco Friedl red card was the deciding factor in the match. Despite playing around 75 minutes with a man down, SVW put in a good team performance, especially in the first half, the match ended in defeat. “We shot ourselves in the foot a good few times, but we gritted our teeth and held our own. That’s something to be happy with,” explained Ilia Gruev after the final whistle.
WERDER.DE has all the post-match reaction from Niclas Füllkrug, Ilia Gruev, Anthony Jung, Marco Friedl and Ole Werner.
Anthony Jung: “It’s a bitter defeat. We played with 10 men for a long time and gave everything we had despite that. We felt pretty good at half time, because we didn’t let anything get past us. To concede at that point is tough to take, and then it's even more difficult to turn the game around. It’s a shame.”
Marco Friedl: “My early red card essentially sealed our fate today. It hurts a lot to have let the team down so much. Despite it, though, the team did very well, especially in the first half. Even though Freiburg had a lot of the ball, they could only create a few goalscoring chances. With a bit of luck we could have even gone in front ourselves just before half time. After that, it became very difficult for us to cope with being a man down against the top side Freiburg are.”
Niclas Füllkrug: “The two deciding events in today’s game came from throw-ins. Throw-ins are situations where we simply cannot concede a penalty or a red card. We defended so naively in those two moments, and they cost us the game. I think we actually defended very well in the first half. After the break Freiburg made it difficult for us to create goalscoring chances.”
Ilia Gruev: “We went a man down after 15 minutes, and then it got difficult, especially when it’s all about keeping the ball and influencing the game that way. Despite that, though, we did well. We looked to hit Niclas with long balls and get forward that way, and at the back we were pretty solid too. You can never defend every single thing; an opponent will get through once or twice in a game. Freiburg took those chances, and then it gets difficult to play against such a good side. We gritted our teeth and held our own. That’s something to be happy with.”
Ole Werner: “I can’t really blame my team too much today. We defended with our bodies on the line, but at the end of the day they couldn’t keep running to close down every gap. Freiburg also did well themselves. The only thing we can be frustrated with the lads for is the way the red card and penalty came about. We needed to be more aware in both situations so that the danger doesn’t pose itself in the first place.”
Marco Friedl: “Gregoritsch ran right past me, and I pulled him to the floor. If I don’t touch him I think Amos [Pieper] can still come round and cover. I haven’t seen any replays yet, but I think it was a clear red card.”
Niclas Füllkrug: “I haven’t seen it back yet, but I don’t think it was a clever thing to do. You could definitely give a red card there. In hindsight, we might have been better off letting him go through and risking the goal against us, so that we can get an equaliser more easily.”
Ole Werner: “I’ve looked at the situation again, both during the game and then after too. For me, it’s a situation where, if you know how fast he is, Amos Pieper can get back round on the cover. Yes, it’s a foul and definitely an unnecessary one, but it’s not a denial of a goalscoring opportunity for me. I thought it was a yellow card.”
Ilia Gruev: “We have to accept the absences, but that can’t be an excuse because we have a large squad. When you look at the team sheet and our squad, you see a lot of great players with huge quality. Of course, we’re missing some important lads, but we have to deal with that as a team. We showed that today in one way or another.”
Ole Werner: “It’s been a tough week for us. A lot of things haven’t gone our way which we couldn’t do anything about. We’ve needed to rearrange the squad a lot in the last few games because we’ve missed a few lads. Despite that though we need to concentrate on the things we can do better ourselves.”
