SCHULTZ AND HIMMELMANN BEMOAN SLOPPINESS AND LACK OF AGGRESSION
Sunday, 13. September 2020, 19:40 Uhr
After going out of the DFB Cup at the first hurdle following a 4-2 reverse at fourth-tier SV 07 Elversberg, the mood in the camp was more than deflated. In the mixed zone after the game, Timo Schultz, Robin Himmelmann and Marvin Knoll looked back at the 90 minutes and the reasons for the defeat.
Head coach Timo Schultz: “First of all congratulations to Elversberg on a well-deserved victory. They had the edge over us from the outset and were faster, both mentally and physically. We set out to show courage and aggression going forward and put our opponents under pressure, but it just didn’t happen. We gave the ball away far too easily in the build-up and when you do that you end up chasing. We went one up with a nice goal, though there was an element of luck about it, and as a coach, you’re thinking the game can go in the right direction. Winning tackles is an elementary part of the game. Coupled with our wayward passing, our failure to do so meant it was difficult to get a grip on things at the back. But Elversberg put us under pressure, played well and scored some nice goals.”
Robin Himmelmann: “If you look back at the 90 minutes, it’s because we never really had a grip on the game whether we had the ball or not. We were always off the pace and made some unnecessary mistakes. Going ahead should have worked in our favour, but we totally surrendered the initiative to our opponents and failed to pressure the ball. Losing and conceding four goals is the logical consequence of that.”
Marvin Knoll: “We simply didn’t do enough and when that’s the case you’re going to lose. We’ll obviously have to analyse the game again. We just didn’t have the right body tension today, although we wanted to go through to the next round, of course. We’ll have to work hard next week now because we can’t afford another display like that. We’re about to start our league campaign and have to shake it off. We made good progress in pre-season, but that was a clear step backwards today. I believe in the team, though, and am confident we’ll do better in future.”
Elversberg coach Horst Steffen: "I’m happy and satisfied with the performance and the result, of course. It was a great display with great goals. We went into the game with high expectations and conceding the goal was a setback, but the players didn’t let it get to them and continued to go flat out and show courage. The goals gave us more power.”
Photos: Witters
