Maaßen: “We don’t want to make any excuses”
Reaction to late defeat at home to Mainz
First Team
20.08.2022, 19:22
FC Augsburg had to suffer a late defeat at home to 1. FSV Mainz 05. Head coach Enrico Maaßen was disappointed, but chose to look ahead. Here is all the reaction to today’s 2-1 loss at the WWK Arena.
Ermedin Demirović: “It was a real fight, in the positive sense – both teams showed that they wanted to win. We allowed little through in the first half, saved a penalty and then lost thanks to a goal in added time at the end. It’s tough to take, but we’ll hold our heads high and keep working, because it’s getting clearer to see that we’re finding our feet slowly but surely. When we get into the swing of things, we’ll be able to have some success and win games like these.”
Felix Uduokhai: “At the end of the day, you can’t say that Mainz didn’t deserve to win given the whole game. We didn’t defend well as the game went on, and the goal in the last minute was really tough on us. We wanted to build on the win we took last week in Leverkusen, but now our goal is to get back on a winning run.”
Mads Pedersen: “We wanted to show how well we could play football at home, but we knew it would be a real fight of a game. Mainz were always a step ahead of us on the second balls; we need to do better there. In general, we probably lacked that extra little bit to turn the game in our favour.”
Ruben Vargas: “The end of the game was really tough to take, and we shouldn’t have let it happen. We needed to be awake and alert to the corner, but we were just a step too slow. I’m happy to be able to get back on the pitch, though. It’s a shame we couldn’t get anything out of the game.”
Rafał Gikiewicz: “Mainz were the slightly better team today. They were more aggressive in the big moments than us and won more of the 50/50s. The fact I saved a penalty doesn’t really mean anything because we didn’t get anything out of the game. We need to take the defeat on the chin and look at the positives. Sometimes you can get more positives for coming games out of losses than wins.”
Julian Baumgartlinger: “A point would have been the right result today. We created our goal very well and worked hard to secure the point until the end. It’s really annoying to concede the winner in the last minute to a set piece. It was superb to play in front of the fans here for the first time; they really motivated us. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t give them the result we all wanted.”
Bo Svensson: “It was a very even first half, and both the big chances were taken. After the break we improved and created more goalscoring opportunities. The game was played mostly in Augsburg’s half, but the fact that we were able to score right at the death was a bit lucky. Nevertheless, I think we deserved to win today, given our performance in the second half.”
Enrico Maaßen: “Congratulations to Mainz on the win, first of all. We’re obviously extremely disappointed to lose the game in the 93rd minute. It was an even game in the first half given the chances, even if I would say we were the better team. We came back from going behind in unlucky fashion – the ball clearly hit Onisiwo’s upper arm – and scored a great goal ourselves. We didn’t create enough chances after the break, but it’s extremely unlucky to have lost the game at the end. The ball was moving when the set-piece was taken for the winner, so that goal shouldn’t have stood either. We don’t want to make any excuses though; we should have just defended it better. When you look at all those contentious decisions, we’re coming away from a very unlucky game. We need to put this one behind us, be critical of ourselves and go again.”
