“One good half isn’t enough” | OneFootball

Amos Pieper has started Werder’s last nine games (photo: WERDER.DE).

Match reaction to the home game against FC St. Pauli

Although SV Werder kept their fourth clean sheet in the last five games, the Green-Whites were somewhat forlorn after full-time. Werder were unable to find the net as they drew 0-0 with St. Pauli. WERDER.DE has summarised the match reaction.

Head coach Ole Werner: “We were so much more aggressive and played with so much more clarity in our pressing in the second half. Before then, we allowed St. Pauli took long a phase of possession and then decided to change things up a bit tactically at half-time. It’s a shame that we didn’t make the most of it. You don’t get many good chances against St. Pauli, but despite that we should have taken one of those that we created from set-pieces or long balls in behind.”

Captain Marco Friedl: “The team and I are disappointed to have only got one point. Just like in previous weeks, we didn’t concede many chances, but if you want to win against St. Pauli, you want to have more than just one good half. We had some problems with pressing due to the changes of position and we didn’t really get into it. All in all, we weren’t at the right level today and didn’t put in a Bundesliga-worthy level of performance.”

Marvin Ducksch: “We didn’t produce many highlights in the first half and were lacking everything we had done well in the past few weeks. We knew we wouldn’t get many chances, because St. Pauli are really good at that. We did better in the second half, but when you look at the chances we had, we should have won the game. We now need to prepare for the upcoming match against Union Berlin.

Amos Pieper: “Given the run that we were on, we’d have liked to have come away with two points more. In the first half, it was difficult because we didn’t play with enough tempo to get into the spaces. We were more dominant after half time, but one good half isn’t enough to get the three points, which is really tough.”

Senne Lynen: “It was a very tight game, we were barely in the match in the first half. The sun played a role in my opinion, as it was difficult to see what was in front of you. We came out of the changing room after the break well, had a couple of good chances and scored two offside goals. In the end, it’s mixed feelings for me.”

Felix Agu: “We knew it would be a difficult game. St. Pauli were closing the spaces down quickly, which meant that we had to be even more determined in our play. We were better in the second half, and it certainly would have helped if we had taken the lead. We need to look at our first-half performance, in which we didn’t implement what we intended to - therefore, we’re disappointed with the game.”

Peter Niemeyer, director of first-team football: “The first half wasn’t good from us, but the second was rather good. It’s a shame that we had two goals ruled out for offside. It was hard to play it round St. Pauli, and you could see that in the first half. In the second half we found the key, we played with more intensity and found the spaces better. Of course I’d have liked for us to win, and the lads wanted that too, you could see that after the game. We’ve now got three challenging games remaining and we want to give it our all in them. You can see just what a tight-knit group these lads have become. You can also see that in the way we don’t concede many chances in defence. Our focus is now on the next game.”