“A poor performance” | OneFootball

Board member for sport Markus Krösche, head coach Dino Toppmöller and captain Robin Koch assess the “deserved” defeat to Leipzig and apologise to the fans.

Board member for sport Markus Krösche: “It was a poor performance, especially defensively. We just defended badly and made it far too easy for Leipzig. If we want to be up there competing for the European places, we can’t be making mistakes like that. We can play much better football, as we have done this season. The basis is what we do without the ball. Every individual needs to win their duels – we’re not strong enough there. It’s nothing to do with mentality or attitude.”

Head coach Dino Toppmöller: “The margin of victory for Leipzig is deserved because of a dismal second performance from us. We lacked sharpness in the duels, it was far too easy. Our tackling was abysmal. It didn’t seem that way in the first half because we made a good start and were well in the game. Overall, though, it was a very, very poor performance, for which we apologise to our travelling fans, who once again gave us tremendous support.” 

Robin Koch: “The scoreline is extremely tough to take. We played okay in the first half but conceded two goals that we only have ourselves to blame for. The second half was nowhere near good enough, we can’t allow that. There wasn’t enough resistance. Nobody in any position was anywhere near 100 percent. We all have to look at ourselves in the mirror. Every player lost their duels, we weren’t aggressive enough and didn’t have the desire to throw everything into the tackle. That’s why it turned out the way it did. We have to apologise to our fans.”