“It's clearly not enough,” commented head coach Thomas Tuchel following Bayern's close 1-0 defeat to Werder Bremen at the start of the second half of the season. Among other players, Thomas Müller proved self-critical. “Before we started taking risks towards the end, we didn't show enough passion, not enough bite,” said Müller. fcbayern.com summarises the reactions.
Reaction to the match against Werder Bremen
Thomas Tuchel: "It's clearly not enough. In the first 70 minutes I didn't get the feeling we were desperate to win. We improved towards the end. In the first half we were extremely static, we lost the ball too often and allowed too many counter-attacks. It's a deserved defeat because 20 minutes simply aren't enough. Today, we didn't have a grasp on the game and weren't aggressive enough without the ball. We lacked rhythm. That's our responsibility. We have to find solutions, this isn't what we demand of ourselves. We will analyse the game calmly, take responsibility, and try to repair the damage on Wednesday and on Saturday.”
Manuel Neuer: “We were dangerous in the last 25 minutes and would have deserved to score. However, we woke up too late. We should have started the game that way. We know how serious the situation is and that Leverkusen are on a roll. We have to focus on ourselves and win our matches now. We know we have to play differently on Wednesday, show our true colours, and show our quality on the pitch."
Thomas Müller: “We definitely would've deserved to score a goal in the last 15 minutes. Over the course of the full 90 minutes, however, we didn't deserve to win. We were too sluggish and too lifeless. That doesn't mean you have to start screaming and tackle somebody. It's about recognising that the team needs a goal and wants to score. Before we started taking risks towards the end, we didn't show enough passion, not enough bite. Bremen were in our penalty area several times. We were asking for it to a certain extent – the goal didn't just come out of nowhere. The fire and passion to break through the deep defensive block was missing today. Every player has to question himself today.”
Reaction from the Bremen camp
Ole Werner (Werder Bremen coach): “I'm happy for the team and the entire club. Many things came together for us today. We showed a top defensive performance. The players' execution was also top level. We didn't show too much respect in the one-on-one situations and always had our foot in the individual duels. The lads did a great job today. These are three points we didn't expect.”
Michael Zetterer (Werder Bremen goalkeeper): “It's incredible for me personally to play here and then to even win. A lot of things need to go your way. We did a great job today. We can build on this performance and it should give us momentum.”
Mitchel Weiser (Werder Bremen midfielder): “We simply had a perfect day today and when that happens you can even beat Bayern. We produced a super performance with everything it takes to win here. This feels really good and was important for us. We did good things in possession.”
The match report:
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