“Minor errors decided the game. That’s disappointing.”

Robert Glatzel: It’s disappointing that we couldn’t capitalise on the strong position we were handed prior to the game. In the final few minutes, we didn’t manage to keep up the energy levels that we’ve shown in other home games in front of our fans. We played against a really good team today, though. Hoffenheim’s intensity and running made it difficult for us in the first half, but we still had a good game plan. We had a lot of promising opportunities to counter, but we didn’t take advantage of these. That was the issue today. We were better in some areas than we’ve been in previous weeks, but obviously we’d have wanted to get more out of a home game. We could have come away with a point today. We need to draw a line through this match and secure safety as soon as possible. We want to make sure we do this ourselves, rather than looking at other teams’ results.

I dedicated my celebration to my pregnant wife and our two children. We’re expecting a boy in early September. I promised them I would do this gesture when I next scored. Fabio and I are both assigned penalty takers. We had a short discussion and I felt confident.

Nicolai Remberg: This hurts today, because it would’ve been a huge step forward if we’d won. We could have taken at least a point. I’m proud of the team despite the defeat. We actually responded well after the previous two losses. We were better both with and without the ball. Despite falling behind, we were feeling good in the first half. We were very focused. We told ourselves that we were playing well, creating chances and performing well overall. In the end, it was two goals from two crosses. We weren’t alert enough in those situations. Both times, we let the opponents get in behind us. Minor errors decided the game. That’s disappointing. But the situation hasn’t changed.

Albert Grönbaek: We’re disappointed that we couldn’t repay the fans today. They bring an incredible energy. Playing here is really special. It’s hard to say what was missing today. We can be better and more dangerous. Even though we’re feeling disappointed today, we need to keep believing and keep going.

Merlin Polzin: Congratulations to Christian and to Hoffenheim on the win. For us as HSV, it was important to put in a performance that reflected our approach to this season and our aims. That meant we wanted to defend aggressively and make life difficult for the opponent by closing the spaces and remaining alert. We wanted to lift the stadium to help us make it hard for a Champions League-chasing side like Hoffenheim to take the points. We definitely managed that. Our team never gave up until the end and played with a lot of versatility – and all that against a team who are having an incredible season. This performance has definitely left me feeling confident for the weeks ahead. Despite the improved performance, we have to be critical of the fact that, at the end of the day, we just had to be better in both boxes. We shouldn’t sugarcoat things when we’ve come away empty-handed. Whatever the quality of the opponent, we needed to defend better for both goals. At the same time, you have to take the clearcut chances you create, because you’re probably unlikely to get too many. That’s part of our process, though. We’ll carry on with that process, because it’s brought us this far. We now need to shake off our disappointment, put this result behind us and prepare to face Frankfurt.

Christian Ilzer: That was a dramatic game which I think can be divided into two halves. We took the lead with an excellent goal, but made a mistake resulting in the equaliser. Then, we showed incredible energy. The second goal before half time came as a result of the team’s energy once again. In the second half, it was an end-to-end encounter in which our decision-making on the ball could sometimes have been better. We could then have wrapped up the game. HSV had one more big chance through Jatta. It’s not easy playing against HSV, because they’re full of ideas, switch positions a lot, are compact defensively and a threat on the counter. Those aspects show the good work their coaches are doing. That makes us even more happy that we’ve managed to win here, something that the likes of Bayern and Dortmund failed to do.