Hürzeler: "Individual errors happen in football"
Saturday, 10. February 2024, 16:50 Uhr
The Boys in Brown lost for the first time in almost ten months on Saturday, going down by the only goal at Magdeburg. It looked to be heading for a goalless draw before an individual error led to the home side's winner. That and the defeat itself were the subject of discussion after the game, of course.
Head coach Fabian Hürzeler: "Congratulations to Magdeburg. Over the 90 minutes we didn't deserve to win. We were unable to play the possession football we set out to play and we failed to win the key challenges. We knew there would be a lot of one-on-ones today and you have to make sure you come out on top. We only did that in part and if so in the less important areas. The longer the game went on, the more the teams cancelled each other out. Both sides had chances to score but it had draw written all over it. Individual errors happen in football. You have to accept it, it's part of our development. It's bitterly disappointing for us. We'll have to go over how today came about. Defeats are there to be learned from and that's what we'll do."
Marcel Hartel: "It wasn't a good performance, we lacked structure. We didn't play our game today, it has to be said. We started well and some good opportunities in the opening stages, but bit by bit we started losing the personal duels, which allowed Magdeburg to wait for us to make a mistake and then switch the play. We defended well for the most part and the goal resulted from a mistake by us. That's part and parcel of football, these things happen. We'll learn from it. The pitch deteriorated but that's no excuse. We train on pitches like that and things come off there. Magdeburg managed to play football on it. We'll have to analyse the game quickly, draw a line under it and then focus totally on Braunschweig."
Hauke Wahl: "We didn't play well today and didn't bring to the pitch what we've brought to the pitch in recent weeks. We were a bit careless and lacked concentration here and there. We didn't win the personal duels the way we usually do. The coach stressed how important today would be before the game. We gave them encouragement as a result and yet we still didn't give much away. In general, football is a game of mistakes, these things happen sometimes. Niko has been exceptional for weeks and is an important part of our build-up play."
Carlo Boukhalfa: "We wanted to be tidy in the build-up and get the ball forward, which we didn't manage to do today. Mistakes will always happen in football. We had a couple of chances today but have to do better. Had we done that, we could have got more here, but as it was it was tough. Magdeburg were very sharp today. They had a good day and that's why they won."
Christian Titz (Magdeburg coach): "It was a good game from both teams, which wasn't easy on that pitch. You have to be very brave. The game began dangerously for us, we could have been behind after five minutes, but overall we had a good first half and could have rewarded ourselves. We won a lot of balls and had the patience to wait for space to open up. We were up against a really top side, so the task for us was to give very little away. We defended resolutely but also had opportunities in transition. The goal resulted from a press and a mistake by our opponents. I think we deserved to win because we worked very hard."
Photos: Witters