Blessin: “Team defended with grit and gave their all”
Saturday, 03. May 2025, 19:41 Uhr
The Boys in Brown gave their all against a decent Stuttgart side and fought with passion after going down to ten but they eventually succumbed to a late winner after 90 incredibly emotional minutes. Though hard to take, the defeat won’t knock the team off their stride and they go to Frankfurt next week determined to get the result that will secure their top-flight status for another year.
Head coach Alexander Blessin: “We were well in the game. We closed down the spaces well and had some good turnovers that led to opportunities on the break, but then we hit too many long balls and neglected the option to play the ball out from the back. We were too spread out for the second balls, which meant we had less control of the ball. We were more focused on keeping our defensive shape. At half-time we wanted to change our build-up slightly and play out from a flat back four. We pulled Philipp Treu into the double six which worked well in the beginning with one of two chipped balls. I don’t want to talk about the penalty. They’re often given, but often they aren’t. The yellow card was doubly disappointing. Today I saw a team who defended with grit and gave their all. It wasn’t our best performance, but it was OK and could have been enough for a point. A lot of the 50-50 challenges were given against us and the emotions in the stands began to boil over. We’ll be angry about for a bit now but tomorrow the focus will turn to Frankfurt.”
Eric Smith: “You obviously feel hard done by when you concede so late and you have a penalty and a red card given against you. Niko saved our bacon as he has done so often this year and the longer it stays 0-0, the more believe you can get a result. Stuttgart created a lot of chances. They have some very good attacking players and when the ball falls at their feet, they score. We didn’t reach our peak today and were simply not good enough. The referee blew up lots of things when we were trying to gain some momentum early on, which led to lots of interruptions and the game couldn’t flow. The defeat is hard to take but we have two cup finals left and we’re looking forward to them.”
Oladapo Afolayan: “I’m obviously annoyed. We performed well and we work hard every week. Defensively we set our stall out very well. We knew we’d face a wave of attacks and it got tougher and tougher. If just one person is out of position, someone else has to help out and is then pulled out of his position, which is how the goal came about. The game didn’t start well for us when Elias got the injury. We have to pick ourselves up again and go again next week. We’re desperate to stay in this league. Today we take from the game that we need to stay calm and have belief in our work.”
Sebastian Hoeneß (VfB Stuttgart head coach): “It was an open game early on but then we seized the initiative and had lots of control. Their long balls really hurt us at the beginning, but we defended them better after that. It was a really positive team performance. Obviously I would have preferred to go in at half time in the lead but then an excellent counterattack led to the penalty and the sending-off. It was a tough situation for us because we still couldn’t take the lead even from the penalty spot. The atmosphere was very heated after that. We had a few chances and then we got the all-important goal. We’re very happy about that and proud. Respect to my team, it was a very tough game here at St. Pauli.”
Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters
