“Our performance was pretty good in large parts”
Two enforced substitutions, one in goal and one in defensive midfield, halving the deficit immediately after going two down, compact defensive work, and yet no points. Hertha’s game away to Bayer Leverkusen was eventful but sadly not one which ended with success as they lost 2-1. “As a team our performance was pretty good in large parts of the game. We fought well, stood up to them and didn’t let too much through. Sadly we just didn’t take our chances,” said Marcel Lotka, visibly disappointed. The goalkeeper, substituted on after 16 minutes for the injured Alexander Schwolow, seemed confident about the final few weeks of the season. “We’re learning a lot from Felix Magath and the mix of him and Mark Fotheringham works well. They’re all doing great things and giving the team the energy we need to fight against relegation. All of that means we’ll stay up,” said the goalkeeper. All the match reaction from Leverkusen is here at herthabsc.com.
Marcel Lotka: It was a bit odd to come into the game off the bench, but you always have to be prepared for it. I tried to help the team and push the lads after coming on. That’s just what I’m like. As a team our performance was pretty good in large parts of the game. We fought well, stood up to them at the back and didn’t let too much through, doing well on the counter. Sadly we just didn’t take our chances. We’re learning a lot from Felix Magath – we really feel his authority – and the mix of him and Mark Fotheringham works well. They’re all doing great things and giving the team the energy we need to fight against relegation. All of that means we’ll stay up!
Vladimír Darida: We put our all into this game and did really well off the ball. Unfortunately we made two mistakes and conceded two goals which cost us the points, which is a real shame. We needed to do better with the counter attacks we had in the closing stages, because we were so close to the equaliser. A point would have been really important.
Fredi Bobic: Over the course of the whole game it’s probably a deserved win for Bayer Leverkusen. The result meant that it was an exciting game until the final whistle. We tried to throw everything forward and had two or three really good chances in the second half. Vladi was involved in everything going forward, but it’s not all about getting into scoring positions, you have to take the chances too. I can’t accuse the lads of not wanting to win; the only things they were missing were consistency and the finishing touch to score. Both of those things will grow with wins and self-confidence. The result was a shame in general, because the first two goals hurt us. They both came from individual mistakes where we defended poorly – we need to stop them.