“We have to accept that Stuttgart were the far better side today”

Daniel Heuer Fernandes: At no point in the game could we get into our rhythm. We were playing against a very strong opponent. We were prepared for them to have a lot of possession. We wanted to remain compact and deny the opponent space, but we didn’t manage that today. We also weren’t brave enough on the ball, so, ultimately, it was a deserved defeat.

Daniel Elfadli: That was a tough assignment. Stuttgart are a top team. They’re flexible in attack and their players switch positions a lot. They played well, while we didn’t. We let the opponent in through our individual errors. Without these errors, it’s possible that we could have got something out of the game. We did have a few attacks in the first half that we couldn’t capitalise on.

Merlin Polzin: Congratulations to Sebastian [Hoeneß] and to VfB on a thoroughly deserved victory. If you want to get something here, you need not only a bit of luck but also an aggressive and compact performance, while taking advantage of your few opportunities to get forward on the counterattack. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage that. We have to accept that Stuttgart were the far better side today. After the final whistle, I told the team that it was a disappointing day at the office and we’re not quite at the level yet where we can go toe-to-toe with this VfB side. We did that in the reverse fixture thanks to a goal on the counter, lots of passion and a full-strength team but, more often than not, these games will go like they did today. At this stage of the season, it’s important that we quickly draw a line through this result and concentrate on the things that have brought us this far. No one is too despondent right now. The lads are fully focused. Obviously, we’re disappointed about today, but we know that we’ve got a great game ahead of us next week.

Sebastian Hoeneß: During the first 20 minutes, we lost the ball too cheaply a couple of times and HSV could have punished us if they’d been a bit more clinical. Otherwise, though, we had the opponent under a lot of pressure and created more and more chances as the game went on. That was a deserved victory and a very good team performance. We’re a well-settled side. Many of the players have been at VfB for one, two or even more years, and that’s what creates an understanding between teammates, as we saw today. Put simply, the team executed our game plan extremely well.