“We showed our maturity today”
First Team
17.12.2019, 15:57
FC Augsburg put in a dominant performance in their final home game of 2019, picking up three more points against Fortuna Düsseldorf. “We showed our maturity as a team today,” head coach Martin Schmidt praised his side. The reaction to the game is gathered below.
Jeffrey Gouweleeuw: “That was a really important win for us. We limited them to only a number of chances and it’s a really good feeling that we managed to take our chances efficiently. The win was important because we will have to face teams in the top half of the table again after the winter break. We will give it our all again in Leipzig and go into the break in great spirits.”
Tin Jedvaj: “We’ve gelled really well together as a team and have a great understanding. We’ve now got a strong run of form together and have established our own style of play. We defend really well as a team and work hard up front. We also make really good use of set pieces. We will give it our all again at the weekend.”
Philipp Max: “It’s just amazing how well we’re doing at the moment. We’ve worked hard and always stayed positive, even when we weren’t doing so well. If anything that just made us stronger. We wanted to get the win for the fans today and now we sit on 23 points. Next up is a trip to Leipzig and we want to do as well as we can.”
Florian Niederlechner: “How we are starting is the key to our success right now. We didn’t let the opposition have any chances. That is the FC Augsburg that we want to be, and it’s really fun at the moment. We have a lot of confidence and I am very happy.”
Martin Schmidt: “Of course I am a happy coach; we won again and kept another clean sheet. That was a big test for my team today. After a strong opening phase, you tend to take you foot off the gas, but we took the game on. We had a lot of possession at the beginning of the game and created chances again and again. Today we showed that our home fortress will not be toppled again this year. Now, we look to the final game of 2019, against RB Leipzig, the in-form team right now. It will be exciting. Today though, we’ll enjoy the fact that the WWK is lit up with green again.”
Friedhelm Funkel: “Of course we imagined it would go differently. Above all in the first half, you could see the difference between two teams that have gone through different experiences recently. We were better in the second half, but deserved to lose in the end. It wasn’t enough today, now it’s important to keep calm. We need to take the right things from the game today. Whoever writes us off is making a mistake.”
