Kramer: 'We shouldn't have conceded today'
Mainz - The mood in the Borussia Mönchengladbach camp was one of frustration on Saturday evening after the Foals let slip a two-goal away to 1. FSV Mainz 05, who were rather more satisfied with the point from the teams' 2-2 draw.
Borussia Mönchengladbach
bundesliga.com rounds up the thoughts of some of the key protagonists at the Coface Arena...
Christoph Kramer: “We played well as a team, but every match is really hard-fought in the Bundesliga and this is a difficult place to come. After we went 2-0 up we pretty much had the game under control, but then they got a direct free-kick, which was really well taken,and then we conceded again from a long throw-in. That’s the way football is sometimes, you can’t always say what went wrong. We were quite well organised but sometimes you just can’t avoid conceding, even if we shouldn't have conceded those goals today. After they pulled a goal back, the crowd got behind them and the game got a bit more hectic. They were always going to throw everything forward then and take a lot of risks.”
Yann Sommer: “Mainz sensed they could get something from the game when they scored their first goal, but it shouldn’t have happened. It’s really frustrating. For their second goal there was a long throw and our defenders just didn’t manage to get the ball clear. Their first goal from the free-kick was my fault, no question, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes. I had a clear sight of the ball but perhaps I was standing too close to the middle of the goal. It’s always easy to say what went wrong in hindsight though.”
Roel Brouwers: “It always feels like a defeat when you're 2-0 up and end up drawing the game. Mainz gave it their all to equalise after they had scored, and they unfortunately managed to do so. The result is hard to take for us as we should have held on for the victory.”
Ibrahima Traore: “Obviously I’m disappointed. At 2-0 we had the game under control and to come away with just a point is annoying, but that’s football. Sometimes inexplicable things happen. We’re still in a good position in the table, but it could have been better.”
Tony Jantschke: “We had the game by the scruff of the neck and then they fought back. The goals we conceded were avoidable, but that’s football. If we’d made it 3-1 it would have been game over. They levelled soon afterwards and in the end we were lucky not to concede a third.
1. FSV Mainz 05
Johannes Geis: “A point is okay when you look at the overall balance of play. We didn’t really show up in the first half - all we had was a couple of long-distance shots and we weren’t able to put them under pressure like we did in the second half. If you come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Gladbach, who are a great team, then it’s not a bad result. At half time we said to ourselves: ‘Come on lads, we can still get something from this,’ and we didn’t leave them as much space. The coach gave us a few tactical pointers as to what we could do better and we managed to implement that. We can be very happy with the point. For my goal I don’t think he [goalkeeper Yann Sommer] saw it too well and then the ball bounced up on the wet pitch. That’s always difficult to deal with but obviously it was great for us to pull a goal back and put them under pressure after that.”Jonas Hofmann: “You have to say Gladbach were brilliant in the first half. We didn't allow many chances, but they were clearly on top. Their second goal was very, very disappointing as we we'd started to gain the upper hand and went close to scoring with my chance. That almost finished us off, but with the help of our fans we managed to find a way back into the game.”
Loris Karius: “When you come back from two goals down you can be happy with a draw, but I can't help feeling disappointed. The fact that we came back shows how great our team spirit is. We kept on trying after we'd got back to 2-2, but we didn't want to take too many risks against a very strong Gladbach side.”
Stefan Bell: “It was very disappointing to be 2-0 down going into the break as we didn't do an awful lot wrong. It was great to come back though and if you look at the whole 90 minutes, we were the better team.”
Julian Baumgartlinger: “It feels a bit like a victory. We could have got more out of the game in the end. Against a quality side like Gladbach it's difficult to turn the game like that on its head. You have to give that little bit extra in those sorts of situations, and thankfully we were able to do that.”
Pablo de Blasis: “We struggled to find our rhythm at the start of the game. We weren't closing them down quickly enough, but incredibly, things started to go a lot better for us after we went 2-0 down and we were able to put them under more pressure.”
Take a closer look at Johannes Geis' stunning free-kick against Gladbach on the Bundesliga's official YouTube channel:
