Ginczek: 'You could see what qualities we have going forward'
Stuttgart - After coming from behind to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 on home turf, VfB Stuttgart's players were adamant that the game was a true reflection of their abilities but equally aware that there is plenty more work to be done if survival is to be achieved.
VfB Stuttgart
bundesliga.com rounds up the post-match reaction from the Mercedes Benz Arena...
Daniel Ginczek: "First things first: my dad turned 65 this Saturday, the two goals were a present to him. The equaliser played into our hands. We had a poor first half, nothing went for us. From the 60th minute, though, you could see what qualities we have going forward. Obviously, my first Bundesliga brace feels great. It was a great day today and a really, really important win. We know, though, that it was only one win and that we need to pick up plenty more. It was a small step forward. We'll analyse this one for any individual errors because even after winning, we need to remember that we weren't at our best in the first half. We'll try to take this positive feeling into our next games. When you win, you want the next game to come as quickly as possible, but at least with the international break we can recover our energies ahead of the final stretch of the season. We're travelling to Wolfsburg [on Matchday 27] to pick up points, not just to have a coffee."
Timo Baumgartl: "You saw that the team wanted more after going 1-0 down. I didn't see the turnaround happening so fast. We had some decent spells and we really wanted it. I kept looking at the scoreboard after we went 3-1 up and in the end I was relieved to hear the full-time whistle."
Christian Gentner: "We took our chances, showed our morale and gave it everything. It took one moment to break the dam, then we showed what we're capable of. You can see how hard such a losing streak can be mentally, which is why the win was all the more important. The victory puts a bit of pressure on the teams around us, but we're still in a really tough position. It's hard to say if it was the most important win of the season but it was obviously vital to stay in touch at the bottom. We knew that before the game. Wolfsburg are, along with Bayern, the best team in Germany at the moment and so we have a tricky task next time out. We'll prepare well."
Georg Niedermeier: "It's a real mix of emotions after the game. On the one side, it's good to know that we can turn a game around. On the other, we're still bottom of the table. We showed once again that we have the willpower - and for once we were rewarded. We were nervous in the first half and gave the ball away too often, but after that we upped the ante. After the break, it was really important to show that kind of reaction to going behind."
Oriol Romeu: "The main thing is that we won, but there's still plenty to do and we haven't achieved anything yet."
Sven Ulreich: "It's been a long time so it's nice to have picked up a win again. It'll do everyone involved some good to have won, particularly mentally. It's hard to explain how important the victory is and the team deserves a big compliment. We were desperate to win it from the first second of the game and we didn't let our heads go down after the setback. In the last few weeks, we've been playing well but as soon as we've gone behind, we let our heads go down, but that didn't happen today. We gave it everything for 90 minutes and deserved to pick up the three points. At half-time, we just said to each other that we had to keep working hard and trying to go forward. We tried to be calmer in our build-up play and not lose the ball so often. We were excellent at finding space in front of the Frankfurt defence in the second half. I thought Alex [Alexandru Maxim] was great in there. When you've won, it's always a bit easier, but we're going to continue with the intensity we've found in the last few weeks and we'll hopefully keep getting our rewards for the effort we've been putting in. We have to go into the Wolfsburg game in two weeks with the same desire. We'll be going there to pick up points even if we're the underdogs."
Alexandru Maxim: "I'm happy because we earned three important points, but it's only a little step so I'm not thinking about my individual performance. Obviously I'm happy because I helped the team and that we had the strength to score three goals after they had made it 1-0. That's is the most important thing. We are in a difficult situation and we must go forward like this. It will be hard, I'm not sure if it was one of our best matches, but I'll repeat that in our situation it's not so important how we play but it's important to take three points. I think it was in the last ten minutes I scored, and even though the game wasn't finished we were more relaxed and more sure because we had the three points. We fought until the final minute but of course after this goal we weren't quite as nervous. I'm happy because it finished well for us. It's football and anything can happen. We have to go onto the pitch against Wolfsburg and fight until the 90th minute. We'll give everything to take three points and only with this attitude will we stay up."
Eintracht Frankfurt
Timothy Chandler: "We were the better team, but once again we failed to win away from home. We're going into the international break on the back of a defeat and that's never good."
Haris Seferovic: "Whenever we have an opportunity to close the gap on the teams above us, we mess things up. We're back in mid-table now and have to make sure we win our next game."
Kevin Trapp: "I don't really have an explanation for our away form. Like always, we did well up until the decisive moment and even with their backs to the wall, VfB managed to find the net three times. It wasn't how we expected it to go, particularly after going a goal up. It's hard to find an explanation for our away form when you're trying every other week. We made a few errors at key moments. The statistics were hugely in our favour. It's hard to find words for why things are as they are."
