“We simply weren’t good enough” | OneFootball

Niko Kovac (on DAZN): "We started well, but then we were simply too passive. We conceded three goals with shots from outside the box. It was a deserved defeat, albeit by one goal too many. On the other hand, of course, there was a high level of quality. You could see the difference today: City's passing was much cleaner than ours. In terms of detail and precision, they were much better than us today – and that’s why they got so much more out of it. We wanted to play down the wings because they were very compact in the middle. We did that quite well at times, but it could have been much better. We’re not yet at the level of this team, but that’s not a bad thing. We want to get there, we have to improve, we have to work on it every day. If someone had told me beforehand that we would get seven points from the first four games, I wouldn’t have been unhappy.”

Gregor Kobel (on DAZN): “There were phases where we played relatively well. The first 15 minutes were good, but after that it wasn’t enough. After the 1-0, there was a dip that I don’t understand. Why? We were playing really well up to that point and were having a good game. After that, they had a lot of chances, were very dangerous and clearly took control of the game. Nevertheless, I think four goals was too many in the end. We didn’t actually play that badly, but at times it was just lacking.”

Waldemar Anton (in the mixed zone): “We did well in the first 15 minutes of the first half, but then made too many mistakes in the final third. They have the quality to score from any position. In the second half, we tried to do better, to up the intensity a notch, which worked well. Then we kept the game very open. Even after the goal for 3-1, we still had the chance to make it 3-2. In the end, it was one goal too many on the other side.”

Nico Schlotterbeck (on DAZN): “We played well for 15 minutes and then just handed it over to City for 20 minutes. They played us off the park at times. After half-time, it was actually okay, but we still conceded the third. After bringing it to 3-1, we had a good spell in which Carney (Chukwuemeka, ed.) just hesitated a little too much in front of Donnarumma. If we’d scored our second goal there, something might have happened. Nevertheless, it has to be said that we deserved to lose because we simply weren’t good enough.”Transcribed by Boris Rupert