Match Reactions
14.04.18
“Our team don’t give up!”
Christian Titz believes in his team and also in staying up. The coach and the team give their thoughts after the loss to a strong Hoffenheim side.
For a short while, the Hamburg players’ heads dropped after the final whistle. It was understandable. They gave their all and put in a commendable performance, but in the end, they lost. The players conceded that it was a deserved loss as the opponents were simply the better side and because HSV weren’t forceful enough up front and were too open at the back. However, the applause of the travelling fans after the final whistle quickly brought back the fighting spirit within the Rothosen. It’s not over until it’s over and the team’s focus will switch quickly to the rest of the season’s fixtures. Here is the post-match reaction from the coaches and players.
Sejad Salihović: We made it too easy for our opponents in the first half and gave them too much space. We were better in the second half, but we couldn’t create any really good chances. Hoffenheim deserved the win, but we haven’t lost any ground, despite the loss. We now have to turn our attention to the next game against Freiburg. The pressure is definitely on, but we’ve proven over the last few weeks that we can do it. We absolutely want to win the upcoming games.
Gideon Jung: We were just asleep in the first half. We wanted to control the game a lot more than we did and put a lot more pressure on them going forwards. Then we started to make mistakes all over the pitch. In the second half, we showed how well we can play in possession and in defence, but it wasn’t enough. Essentially, we deserved the loss. We now have to focus on ourselves and pick up some wins. It’s not too late yet!
Bernhard Peters: Hoffenheim deserved to win today. They played with a lot of confidence and dominated us in the challenges. The chances were a lot more dangerous than ours. The lads have progressed, but they still aren’t always playing their passes with 100% conviction. Perhaps today that was down to us going 2-0 very quickly. A lot of the time, we were simply too late to get to the ball. But there are more games to come and we absolutely have to win the next games. And we can do that.
Christian Titz: We weren’t compact enough in the first half. We can’t complain about the result because we didn’t score. We spoke about our mistakes during the break. I’m pleased that we responded in the second half. Our team don’t give up! We showed promise and played better after the change of ends, but we can’t forget that we were beaten by a very good team today.
Julian Nagelsmann: We were fortunate that a really good central midfielder, Steinmann, had to leave the pitch early on. We deservedly went into the break 2-0 up. Then we sat back a bit and played counterattacking football. It didn’t work too well for us as HSV dominated and showed why their recent form has been impressive, even if they were hoping for a different result.