Maaßen: “We would have loved to have won the game”
Reaction to the draw against Stuttgart
First Team
22.04.2023, 00:03
FC Augsburg had to satisfy themselves with a point on Friday evening, as they drew 1-1 at the WWK Arena against VfB Stuttgart. All the post-match reaction is here.
Mads Pedersen: “We had a good balance between pressing and controlling the game in the first half, and rewarded ourselves with the goal. We were a bit too hectic in the second half and conceded an unlucky goal. We would have loved to taken more than a point away from the game, but one thing is clear for us: we’re fighting until the very last game, because, like before, we have everything in our own hands.”
Dion Beljo: “We just need to keep collecting points, because we’re getting dragged back into the fight for survival. We know how good we are at home, which can be our trump card – our opponents will have to come here and win. What matters now is to keep working hard.”
Elvis Rexhbecaj: “At the end of the day, you have to look at how the game went and say the draw was probably the right result, even though Stuttgart didn’t really create any goalscoring chances. The fact we were leading so long meant a single point isn’t enough. I think we played a good game, though – we didn’t bring the power that we needed to in the second half. We just kept pumping too many balls long. Defensively, we didn’t let anything through, which makes me believe that we can still pick up the points we need.”
Arne Maier: “Right now, just after the game, I’m disappointed that we didn’t win the game. We did really well in the first half, but got pegged back after the break, because Stuttgart put the pressure on despite not creating goalscoring chances. At the end of the day, the point could be valuable come the end of the season.”
Felix Uduokhai: “It’s always an honour to lead the team out onto the pitch, but I’ll be happy if Jeff is back next week. It’s annoying not to have won the game, because Stuttgart didn’t have a lot of chances and we conceded a goal from a set piece. We had a difficult time in the second half, because Stuttgart won a lot of second balls and we lacked a bit of bite, because we were missing the right rhythm. We got the minimum result that we wanted.”
Enrico Maaßen: “We played very well in the first half, being good on the ball and investing a lot in the game. It’s incredibly tough that we had to make five changes do to various knocks and injuries. That meant we lost our power, especially going forward. We started taking big risks, perhaps a bit too much, and that got Stuttgart back in the game. All in all, they were able to bring more power off the bench and it’s incredibly annoying to have conceded another goal from a set-piece. We would have loved to have won the game, but the minimum aim was for us to keep the gap to VfB and we’ve done that.”
Sebastian Hoeneß: “It was an intense, fast-paced game – that was what we expected, as Augsburg can really make life difficult for you. They got their reward with the opening goal, and we missed the chance for an equaliser. It was an open, back-and-forth game, but both teams failed to create big chances. We were missing some depth – we made some changes for that and things got a huge amount better. We pressed to turn the game in our favour, bit by bit. We defended in a disciplined way, scored the goal late on and then kept pushing for more. We’re not happy with the result, but we’ll take a point and we can be proud of our second-half performance.”
