“It’s a needless defeat”

Sebastian Schonlau: We had trouble dealing with Hannover’s man-marking in the first half. At the same time though, we were defensively compact and weren’t under any pressure. We then conceded early in the second half and were left chasing the game. We were better on the ball after going behind. We had more control of the match, but couldn’t find the equaliser. It’s a needless defeat, but we’re not going to change our game plan, because it’s still good. We have to learn to implement it better and get closer to the level we want to be at.

Immanuel Pherai: We had a lack of composure on the ball in the first half. We sat back a lot and were in a lot of individual battles. It was goalless at half time though and we started the second half well. Then, we were disappointed to concede a penalty. After that, we were better on the ball and had our chances. We were only missing a goal.

Davie Selke: We had to find our feet in the game because of Hannover’s man-marking. We tweaked a few things at half time and then created a host of good chances in the second period. Of course I’m disappointed that I couldn’t score that header from the corner – we’re talking millimetres. We should have got at least a point, but the ball just wouldn’t go in.

“This shows how fine the margins are in this league, and that there were two good teams out there today.”

Steffen Baumgart: The two teams cancelled each other out for long periods. We were a bit more compact in the first half, but we weren’t clinical enough on the counter. Then, we conceded the penalty straight after half time. We played better after falling behind, but we didn’t score from either of two big chances, and ended up losing the game 1-0. This shows how fine the margins are in this league, and that there were two good teams out there today.

Stefan Leitl: We were lively from the start and wanted to be difficult to play against. We achieved that well in the first half, and then took the lead just after half time. Of course, we then came under a lot of pressure from HSV. We should have made more of our counterattacks, but we were running out of energy a bit and had to do a lot of defending as a team. It was an even game that went our way, maybe because we wanted it a bit more.