The expectations that the Green-Whites had for the North Derby against Hamburg were big. They were hoping to confirm the recent positive trend of the last couple weeks and grab a victory and three important points in the fight against relegation...
The expectations that the Green-Whites had for the North Derby against Hamburg were big. They were hoping to confirm the recent positive trend of the last couple weeks and grab a victory and three important points in the fight against relegation...
The expectations that the Green-Whites had for the North Derby against Hamburg were big. They were hoping to confirm the recent positive trend of the last couple weeks and grab a victory and three important points in the fight against relegation. That made the disappointment all the bigger after a 4-0 thrashing. "We really took one on the chin today," said head coach Thomas Schaaf. "That certainly doesn't happen too often. But it got us today. Unfortunately we couldn't save the positive recent trend with just one half-time."
Klaus Allofs was really aggravated about the unnecessary first goal allowed. "Up to the first goal, Hamburg were uncertain. But we helped them build up their confidence with the goal and then invited them to more goals. We are lagging way behind our expectations," said the manager, who was especially unpleased with the defensive showing of the Green-Whites. "Defensively that was out of the question."
Torsten Frings felt sorry especially for the Werder fans who travelled to the game. "We can only apologise to them. The first half was okay but we cannot continue to play how we did in the second half," said the captain, who will miss next week with his fifth warning. "The fans are the worst off. But this kind of result doesn't just hurt the supporters but us as well," said Sebastian Prödl. "The thorn of disappointment is deep down. And we have accept the blame that we messed up," added the Austrian. But the Green-Whites do not want to give up. "We can now only practice even more intensively, do even more video analysis and get rid of the mistakes. Even if those are just rallying cries, we just have to work hard now," said Frings.
"What's important is what lessons we take out of this. We had shown good signs in the last weeks. We have to get back there. That was a jet black day which is not easy to get over. I know we can get back up and that is exactly what we will do," said Per Mertesacker.
