Thomas Reis (Head Coach VfL Bochum 1848): Congrats to Frank Kramer and his club. In my opinion, today’s game can be described in only one way: We were mentally absent, the mental freshness was lacking. Before the match I said that Arminia were under pressure. But we did not manage at all to put up some resistance. Through all those square passes, we invited Bielefeld to counterattack and were quite lucky in the beginning to concede an early goal. It’s incredibly annoying that both goals against us emerged from individual mistakes. The defeat is well-deserved. But, I can only criticise this very game, not the whole season. On Saturday we are eager to finish the first half of the campaign on a positive note.
Frank Kramer (Head Coach DSC Arminia Bielefeld): My team showed a good performance. We were on the spot from the very beginning. We created many goalscoring chances with a great attacking play. We kept it tight at the back, except from that one situation, when Holtmann made his way in front of our goal. But he is hard to keep him under control in a running duel. Both goals were powerful ones. We also benefitted from mistakes made by VfL, but mistakes must also be forced. I am glad that my side rewarded itself for its efforts and we showed everyone that we’re still alive.
Sebastian Polter: We made it way too easy for Bielefeld to score their goals. Today we didn’t get things going at all. We had only one clear cut chance, it was Gerrit in the first half. That’s what you can hold against us. Arminia kept it tight, they are known for that style of play at home. We were aware of what was expecting us, but we weren’t playing as a complete team. That‘s how you cannot achieve any success away.
Gerrit Holtmann: We had our problems getting into the match. We helped Bielefeld by several misplaced square passes in the first half, plus we had far too few goalscoring chances. I wasn’t able to convert either of these. We knew what we were expecting. We were eager to offer opposition, but unfortunately, we failed. That is not the way how to play a Bundesliga fixture. 20 points is quite decent, but we are still far away to ensure staying in the league.
Cristian Gamboa: We knew it was going to be a tough game and an enormous fight. We tried to give our best, but it wasn’t meant to be. We have to look ahead. On Saturday it’s another important fixture, against 1. FC Union Berlin we are eager to end the first half of the season on a positive note.
