Dorsch: “The atmosphere was breathtaking”
Match reaction from the 3-2 win against Wolfsburg
After making a successful start away from home in Heidenheim, new head coach Jess Thorup also enjoyed a victorious home debut at the WWK ARENA. Again, FCA came from behind strongly and turned the game around with the passionate support of their fans. Here is the match reaction.
Niklas Dorsch: The coach drummed it into us that we can deal with going behind and come back again quickly. That’s the most important base mindset. We showed that in Heidenheim and again today – that will definitely have been exciting for the fans. But we relax now, as next week we face another difficult game in Cologne. We need to take this positive feeling with us. The atmosphere in the stadium today was breathtaking and that gave us goosebumps. There’s a group developing here who can rely on each other and I’m pleased that the team still turned the game around after the penalty.
Phillip Tietz: I’m super happy that we’ve won and showed good character again. Of course I’m pleased with my goal, but that’s the striker’s job so I don’t want to make too much of it. We took a lot of setbacks today and worked hard for our luck afterwards. Something we maybe still need to work on is probably the goals we conceded, because that’s what annoys us most as a team. But the coach set us up well and only changed small details. He gave us lots of one-on-one talks and helped give the team confidence again. You could already see that in Heidenheim, but saw it again today. The fans really pushed us forwards, and we can only thank them for that!
Arne Engels: It was an incredible feeling to score the winning goal at the end. The atmosphere in the Arena was great and we showed on the pitch what a great togetherness we have in the team. Just like we did last week, we managed to come from behind and are now delighted with six points from two games.
Ermedin Demirović: The atmosphere was phenomenal today. I’ve rarely experienced anything like it. The fans gave us the decisive push. The mentality with which we battle as a team speaks in our favour. Everyone works for everyone else and today, the substitutes won the game for us. The final phases were brutal, but we showed that we are Augsburg.
Jess Thorup (FC Augsburg head coach): It was a delight to watch what the players showed on the pitch today. Of course, we also had the luck needed at the end to defend a 3-2 lead with 10 men. We knew that Wolfsburg are a strong opponent and they showed that in the first half – we had a few problems then. The players can make mistakes – what’s important is how they react. What the team did in the second half, how we always kept believing and kept playing forwards, was outstanding. Equally outstanding were our fans. We are on the right path, but we also have to be targeting a clean sheet.
Niko Kovač (VfL Wolfsburg head coach): We saw a very intense football match today. My team did very well in the first half and led, like in many away games. Unfortunately, we threw it away again in the second half. Augsburg played very physically and with a lot of passion and we didn’t know how to bring calmness or take the wind out of the opponent’s sails. Inevitably, we conceded three goals from crosses. We’ve discussed that and we actually know how we have to defend them. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do that and I’m very disappointed and angry about the manner in which we performed in the second half.
