“We can’t let that happen“

A comeback, two debutants and an early lead – Hertha’s afternoon began perfectly. However, it ended in a disappointing 3-1 defeat away to 1. FC Köln. “We had high hopes for this game, however we didn’t live up to them. We did well for the first half an hour, but after the equaliser we failed to get back in the game and we didn’t have the bravery and confidence to get at Köln, who were able to play their way,” summed up Prince Boateng, playing in the Bundesliga for the first time in 1,191 days. “There were some positives to take. After all, we’ve got 33 games still to play. We all need to play our part and now get the win in front of our fans against Wolfsburg!” herthabsc.com has summarised the post-match reaction from Cologne.

Prince Boateng: I obviously had hoped my comeback would go differently. We had high hopes for this game, however we didn’t live up to them. We did well for the first half an hour, but after the equaliser we fell apart a bit and never got back into the game. We didn’t have the bravery and confidence to get at Köln, who were able to play their way with their fans right behind them. I don’t think it was a foul for their equaliser. It looked a bit rough, however Modeste just used his experience in this situation. I’m not a fan of blowing up for too much and I trust the officials anyway. There were some positives to take. After all, we’ve got 33 games still to play. We all need to play our part and now get the win in front of our fans against Wolfsburg.

Niklas Stark: We need to work out why we simply lost control of the game in the first half. Our performance levels dropped, we lost possession too easily and couldn’t get a grip on the game. We can’t let that happen and we’ll have to analyse this. We’ll have to improve on a number of things if we want to win against Wolfsburg in front of our fans. We’re not thinking about last season anymore – we’re a team and have gained quality, which we need to show as soon as possible.