Florian Kohfeldt: "In the first half, we kept getting past the first line of defence and then nothing else after that. Still, we had a few chances and could have scored the winner after going level, which is why I’m a bit torn in giving my overall verdict on the game. This game showed us where we still have to improve: When our opponent sits deep and waits to counter, we didn’t find enough ways of breaking them down. We kept Köln in the game, which was not necessary in my opinion. There wasn’t enough directness in the midfield and we weren’t playing the ball into the spaces that were opening up in the final third. We also weren’t getting into positions where players could take the opponents on in one-on-ones, like Tahith did at the end – he really was a good substitute today. I would still reject any notion of criticism about our approach to playing football. Obviously it’s easier when there is more space, there wasn’t a lot today. Köln defended really well for most of the game."
Leonardo Bittencourt: "We found it difficult because Köln sat so deep. We didn’t really have the right tools to break them down. Later on we had a player on the pitch in Tahith, who could run at players down the wing – that was very important. On the whole we lacked the right ideas today, because we aren’t used to playing against teams defending so deep. We need to work on that. In the end we have another point on the board, but there was more in it for us."
Christian Groß: "Both sides struggled to create chances. If we look back at how the game went we have to be happy with the point. It was hard to get back into it after falling behind – Köln were extremely deep and poised for counterattacks. If we’d take the lead with our first chance the game would have looked entirely different. As it was though, it was extremely difficult for us."
Theodor Gebre Selassie: "The draw is not enough for us. After all these draws of late we were desperate to win today, but we had difficulties in attack. We know Köln are dangerous from set-pieces, and that’s how they scored as well. So we’re pleased to have another point on the board, but we wanted more today."