FC Bayern had to settle for a point against Union Berlin on Saturday evening. At the Stadion an der Alten Försterei, Bayern only did enough to secure a 1-1 draw after falling behind early on. "For the first few minutes we weren't present on the pitch," said Hansi Flick. "I was more satisfied with the second half," continued the Bayern coach. fcbayern.com has collected reaction from players and coaches.
Reaction to Union v Bayern
Hansi Flick: "For the first few minutes we were not present on the pitch as we had wanted to be. We could have defended better when we conceded the goal, without question. When the first ball becomes dangerous, our composure is not there. We played the safe pass or a long ball. I wasn't too happy with that. We addressed that during the break. We wanted to play with more composure and occupy space better in the second half, to have men over. I was more satisfied with the second half. We can definitely play better. Our idea is to put the opponents under pressure. Today we weren't able to implement it as we had planned. It will be a difficult season, we knew that in advance. Now we have to take the positives from the situation and improve on the things that didn't go so well."
Manuel Neuer: "We didn't look so good in one or two situations and gave away goalscoring opportunities. But we could also have scored at the death and come away with a 2-1 win. You can concede a goal through a set piece, but I think there were too many counter-attacks against us. We have to be careful for the next games. Union are a difficult team to play against. As a goalkeeper, it's always annoying when you concede goals."
Thomas Müller: “We've often gone a goal down recently. It happened very early today. Union fought hard and played man-to-man. We made life difficult for ourselves, especially in the first 20 minutes. We need momentum again and to bounce back again. We have the quality, mentally too, but of course it just happens that we are not winning but rather drawing matches. It feels too little given our ambitions.”
Urs Fischer (Union Berlin head coach): “We could have won the match. We weren’t accurate enough, not composed enough, we didn’t finish our moves. At the same time, we could have conceded more goals too, so I’m really satisfied with the point.”
Christopher Trimmel (Union Berlin): “We must admit it was a deserved draw, considering the chance shortly before the end when Andy Luthe made a fantastic save. We had a few chances in the first half but we were up against Bayern. We know they have a match every three days. We turned in a very, very good display today.”
The match report:
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