“The effort was there” - Thioune reacts to debut defeat | OneFootball

Daniel Thioune’s dream debut in the Bremen dugout failed to materialise, as his side fell to a narrow defeat despite enjoying a numerical advantage for much of the second half following Johan Manzambi’s red card.

Speaking after the match, Thioune pointed to a lack of confidence as the decisive factor:

“The effort was there, but the consistency was lacking. I have the feeling that the team is hungry for results. At the moment, they don't have the confidence needed to get more in Freiburg.” 

“We can build on the last two days of training, because the team is willing. There were only 20 seconds between what could have been the goal of the year and the goal of the day, and I wasn't happy with those.” 

Captain Marco Friedl offered a far more blunt assessment of Bremen’s ongoing struggles:

“It doesn’t do me any good to be down or dejected now. I could stand here every week and say the same thing. Our opponents basically invite us to attack week after week.”

“We’ve now played two 40-minute spells with a man advantage. On top of that, we’ve played against teams that perhaps weren’t having their best day. We’re in the game again today, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.”

“It’s simply not enough if we don’t score goals. If we don’t put them away up front, we won’t make it this year. We have to be clear about that. We have to keep going, but there has to be a change, otherwise we’ll end up in a rude awakening.”

Midfielder Jens Stage echoed his captain’s frustrations, pointing to a decisive lack of quality in key moments:

“We came out with good energy. The coaches really warmed us up. We were ready. I can't say we didn't want to play. Everyone tried their best.”

“Of course, without a lot of confidence, but everyone tried their best. At the end of the day, it's once again a question of quality. Freiburg scored, we didn't.”

“We were very close with Justin, just ten seconds before, but the ball didn't go in. And then Freiburg scored, and from then on it was a close game again, one that could go either way. We lacked that final bit of quality.”

Bremen’s defeat sees them slip into the bottom three and extend their winless run to eleven matches. The task ahead looks daunting, with league leaders Bayern Munich visiting the Weserstadion next weekend.