FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin: "We were very well in it in the first half. You can compare it with the Mainz game last week. In our transitional play we had some good turnovers, runs in deep and direct opportunities. We caused Dortmund lots of problems. That's what we set out to do in the second  half as well but all in all we were too destructive. We lacked the courage to push out properly and then we conceded. You can debate it but for me it was a clear foul, though we still had a chance to clear our lines. We were too naïve for the second goal – we could have cleared the ball better. We have to learn our lessons from that. It's evident we've conceded some stupid goals in recent matches and we have to cut that out."

David Nemeth: "The first half was good. In the second we conceded quite early on, a goal that should never happen. We took more risks after that, but Dortmund are a quality side and that's why they won it in the second half. If we'd got the opening goal early on, we might have been able to see it out and defend it better. It's very hard to take because we did an extremely good job today, especially in the first half."

Elias Saad: "Dortmund operated slightly differently in the second half and somehow we struggled to come up with an answer. They launched a wave of attacks and got the opening goal. It's then tough to come back against a team like that. We knew Dortmund would have a lot of the ball. We wanted to play ugly and attack the ball with intensity. The aim was to defend everything and then hit them on the break, which worked pretty well in the first half. I can't really say what was lacking. We're trying everything we can but somehow the ball just won't go in."

Jackson Irvine: "We wanted to keep the intensity high after the restart and remain aggressive, but we struggled to press well early on, which is why we made such a bad start to the second half. It cost us the game today. We have to come up with answers quickly. We have ten games left and need to play as if our lives depend on it. Four defeats in a row is not acceptable. We need to have some difficult conversations now and change something quickly."

Niko Kovač (Dortmund head coach): "We're very happy with the result. St. Pauli were very aggressive in the first half and took a direct approach going forward. We didn't give too much away, though we did struggle to build the play. At half-time we switched from a back three to a back four in our build-up and that brought our full-backs into the game better. We had more control of the game after that and got the all-important opening goal. We clearly deserved to win today."

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters