Baumann: “The disappointment is huge”

Marius Bülter: “You could see at the start that we wanted to go on the offensive. The fact that it went so well and we scored three goals was perfect. Unfortunately, the sending off threw our game plan out the window. Nevertheless, we can’t become so passive and sit so deep. We stopped defending the flanks and then conceded four more goals. During the break, we talked about defending better out wide, but then their fourth goal was scored in the same way. As we led 3-0 after 12 minutes, I can’t explain why we lost 3-4, even if we got a red card.”

Kevin Akpoguma: “Everything went our way in the opening minutes. Then we conceded an unnecessary red card. That shouldn’t happen, especially when you’re 3-0 up. After the sending off, we conceded goals far too easily. It was too easy, we didn’t defend from set-pieces on two occasions, and we were caught on the counter for their third goal. Bremen did well, were very mobile and made the most of their pace to get in behind. We’re making too many careless mistakes at the moment, and it’s going to be hard to win games like this. But I would also like to give our young players a bit of praise. The way Tom Bischof and Umut Tohumcu worked against the ball while also trying to make things happen going forward was really impressive.”

Oliver Baumann: “We’re obviously very disappointed, especially as we played really well at the start. Then came the red card, which of course was a turning point. Nevertheless, we conceded the goals too easily and four is just too many, even when we were a man down. We should have defended better. The boys want to win and to fight, the team spirit is there. But we have to improve, we need every training session to get better. Nevertheless, we knew today that we would have more opportunities, even when down to ten men. We could have even scored a fourth goal if fortune had gone our way. But it wasn’t meant to be today.”

Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We started the game brilliantly, the game plan was working, the way the boys positioned themselves on the pitch was outstanding. The red card combined with their first goal destabilised us. We weren’t able to go into the dressing room with the lead. The goal right after half-time really hurt us, and again from a set-piece situation. We had numbers in the box, but no-one was covering the man. That’s unacceptable. But it says something for the boys that we believed we could get a point right up until the end. They never gave up. Unfortunately, though, we lost the game because of the red card.”

Ole Werner (SV Werder Bremen coach): “What a crazy game. Although Hoffenheim started in the way we expected, we still lost every tackle. It was remarkable how badly we started the game. Without the red card, the game would probably have gone differently, but the boys did very well with the extra man. There was a lot of joy out there on the pitch. But, whether you’re a man up or not, you still have to score four goals. So, well done to the team. It’s normal for things to get a bit hectic towards the end, but we got the win.”