Baumgartner: “That was way too little”

Kevin Vogt: “The defeat is a blow but one we want to shake off quickly. The energy was missing in the first half. We overcomplicated our play and didn’t play into the spaces we talked about as consistently as we have recently. In addition, we didn’t win any second balls, which turned it into a game we didn’t want to have. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any control in the first half. After the break it looked better, but we didn’t take advantage of the moments we had. We could’ve taken a big step. Now we want to take something in Leipzig, but to do so we’ll need to give a different account of ourselves.”

Dennis Geiger: “It was a poor game and a big setback. We didn’t show what has set us apart in recent weeks on the pitch. I cannot explain it directly after the match; the training this week looked very good. We could’ve taken a huge step with a victory, hence why the performance is inexplicable. But it continues next week and then we’ll show our true selves once again.”

Christoph Baumgartner: “We played with too little power, especially in the first half. That’s what has set us apart in recent weeks, you always had the feeling that we wanted to win more. We didn’t have that energy today. We could have taken a big step forward; now it feels like a big step backwards. There wasn’t a player on the pitch who produced his best performance. And that annoys me. We all need to look in the mirror and admit to ourselves: that was way too little and we have to analyse it brutally. We lacked efficiency in the second half, but even more so in the first half. We can’t be 2-0 down at home at half-time. We knew how important the game was but we only played well for the 15 minutes after the break. If we had scored then, it might have ended differently. But we didn’t manage that and that’s why we deserved to lose. I’m really disappointed – especially after the last few weeks. But I don’t want to see everything in a negative light. We’ve worked hard in the past few weeks and that’s why we’re still in with a chance to stay in the league despite this awful game. We have it in our own hands. Now we’re going to Leipzig and we want to pick up points there.”

Ihlas Bebou: “That was disappointing. We didn’t have enough control and allowed the opposition too much space. We’ve been much better at that recently, we need to get back to that. We envisaged it going differently, but we allowed far too much to happen and only reacted. We invited the opposition onto us, Cologne took advantage mercilessly. The match was poor, but we now have to tick it off and look forwards. We want to build on the performance from the last four games in Leipzig.”

Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We actually made a good start but there was a drop-off after we conceded the goal. The performance in the remainder of the first half is not the standard we want. It was better in the second half, but we lacked the necessary precision. We made the wrong decision too often and were not good enough in the final third.”

Steffen Baumgart (1. FC Cologne coach): “We’re delighted we produced a good performance for 90 minutes. In the first half in particular, we played well. It was a more open exchange in the second half, that was slightly too turbulent for me. For us it was an important victory, which in my opinion was also fully deserved. We were alert from the start and implemented our plan. Even before the penalty, we had a few attempts at switching the play. The longer the game lasted, the clearer the processes became.”