“Identifiable progress” | OneFootball

Albert Riera, Jonathan Burkardt and Nathaniel Brown give their assessment following the 3-2 defeat at FC Bayern Munich.

Head coach Albert Riera: “We saw that there are things we need to improve and work on. The first half in particular was difficult for us, we had to withstand and survive a lot of one-v-one situations. Bayern are Bayern, they press you everywhere. It’s extremely difficult to get out of that. We tweaked a few things in the second half and the substitutions also helped us. We got into the danger areas more often. What I can always expect from my players are attributes like character, positivity and personality. If it doesn’t all work out technically or tactically, I can forgive that – and look at how we improve. Even though we lost, the performance after the break can give us a lift and more confidence.” 

Jonathan Burkardt: “I’m feeling very good. I enjoyed being back on the pitch and I’m glad the injury period is over. Strength-wise, I’m not yet up to playing 90 minutes but in terms of liveliness and fitness, I feel really good. We came close, we played really well in the second half. One positive we can take away is that our game, when we execute it, can work well against any opponent. That’s an important takeaway. We showed a lot of composure on the ball and good positional play at the end. On the other hand, we need to be tidier in our passing and have to keep making ourselves available. That wasn’t there at the start like it was at the end. Nevertheless, there’s identifiable progress.”

Nathaniel Brown: “I’m very proud that I got to be captain. When Robin Koch was ruled out yesterday, I started counting (laughs). We needed a better start to the match but the way we battled back was very impressive. We wanted to attack with courage and impose our game. We only managed that better in the second half. Maybe we lacked belief and weren’t aggressive enough before the break. Jonny and Kali did a very good job in attack and provided a lot of impetus. I’m growing into my new position and enjoying it – I see more of the ball. I feel comfortable and want to continue like this. We’re playing at home against Freiburg next week and want to win.”