“Both sides fought hard”

Daniel Heuer Fernandes: It’s an okay result. That wasn’t our best performance overall, but it’s another point on the board for us. We could have done a few things better in terms of our speed of passing and our positioning. We generally kept the opponent at arm’s length, though. This was a very tight game and both sides fought hard, but neither was prepared to take any huge risks.

Nicolai Remberg: On balance, the draw is a fair result. We defended well, apart from at that one corner. However, we still wanted more from the game. Our opponents have started to adapt to the fact that we try to play good football through the middle of the pitch, so we wanted to get forward mainly through counterattacks and long balls today. That worked once or twice, but not often enough overall. There were lots of chances for both sides to counter. Elfadli had a good opportunity at the end, but, to be fair, we had luck on our side for a few Köln counterattacks.

Miro Muheim: After how the game played out, we can be satisfied enough with a point. This definitely wasn’t our best performance today. We weren’t lively enough on the ball, had very little movement and were too static. We also didn’t do enough off the ball. That wasn’t down to our tactical approach, but was more because we didn’t manage to press as well as we needed to. We also weren’t aggressive enough in the duels. These things made it difficult for us to play our own game.

Fabio Vieira: It was a nice goal. As soon as I made eye contact with Willi, I knew where he would play the ball. I’d also noticed that the ‘keeper was slightly off his line, and then I put it in the net. It was definitely one of the top three goals I’ve scored. I’m very happy about that. I’m gaining more and more confidence now and I’m feeling like the old Fabio again. Coming to Hamburg was an important step for me to get back to my full potential.

You could tell that both sides were most concerned with holding on to the point.

Merlin Polzin: There were a lot of duels and a lot of stoppages, and there was a lot of sloppy play. I wasn’t happy with how we played with the ball. We’ve had better performances. The goal was very well crafted and brilliantly finished. It’s definitely a strike we should be watching again and again. It was disappointing to concede the equaliser just before the break. The second half was relatively quiet. You could tell that both sides were most concerned with holding on to the point. We’ll take that, because we want to keep picking up points each week and end the season on a stable note.

Lukas Kwasniok: We’ll take the point, even though it felt as if we could have won the game. However, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, especially as the opponents scored such a brilliant opener. That was world class from Vieira. The way the team reacted to that was excellent. They were rewarded for their set-piece efforts, including for that corner. We don’t really have any traditional aerial threats on the pitch, but we’re working on that. The second half felt to me like a war of attrition. It only really came alive in injury time, when first Elfadli and then Marte for us had headed chances to win the match.