Once again, it was not meant to be. For a long time it looked like a 1-1 draw for the Werkself in Breisgau, but a lack of concentration ten minutes before the end led to a 2-1 defeat. There's not much to comment on now, because at some point it's enough to make you speechless.
Let's look forward to a three-week break and hope that everything will be better in 2022.
It's crazy. Our team repeatedly takes a deserved 2:0 lead in a Bundesliga match and once again fails to win against Hoffenheim. There's no point in beating up on the team now. Nevertheless, we have to show a reaction in Freiburg on Sunday. We can do it, we've shown that often enough this season. And despite last week's away defeat in Frankfurt, we've always played better away than at home in recent months.
After the 5:2 defeat in Frankfurt, I largely do not share the numerous postings in the social media that speak of a weak performance by the Werkself. Sure, if you lead 2:0 away from home early on and then get five, then the criticism is obvious. But if you take off your club glasses, you have to say that at least two of the goals scored by the Eagles were completely lucky goals that you only score once every five years. Sure, they were well done, but you can't defend against them.
What are the lessons learned for Wednesday's home game against Hoffenheim: keep playing, then the goals will come, but be more aggressive in the duels to show the visitors who's boss from the start. Then a three-goal win is possible, even if Hoffenheim is the team of the moment. Figuratively speaking, every hour comes to an end at some point.
Of course it's annoying to lose 1:0 by a goal shortly before the end. Budapest didn't really have anything to counter throughout the game, but still left the pitch as the winner. More important for us is that we almost rotated and were able to try out one or the other formation at least in the second half - even if only for a short time. We left the round as group winners, but that was already clear beforehand.
On Sunday in Frankfurt, it's all about more. The Hessians still haven't really arrived in the season, but they could set one or two needle marks with victories in Freiburg and at Bayern. Let's hope that the home weakness of the Eagles continues.
Very effective and cool-headed, that's how the Werkself's highest home win in Bundesliga history with 7:1 against Fürth can be described in summary. And another record should not go unmentioned: Patrik Schick was the first Bayer player to score four goals in one match. The next record on this matchday, however, is more a source of pity, as SpVgg Greuther Fürth have now become the first team in Bundesliga history ever to lose twelve games in a row.
But we are looking at ourselves and not at the opponent. I'm glad that the game ended the way it did. I already had a queasy feeling on the way to the stadium. Just as I got out of the car, it started raining cats and dogs. Add to that the adverse circumstances and regulations in the wake of the pandemic. And against Fürth, everyone was expecting a win. If you lose or only get one point, then you're the nation's fool and everything in the future is immediately called into question. But it didn't come to that, on the contrary.
Thursday Budapest we can take a relaxed approach and rotate completely. We have secured first place and Budapest has been eliminated. This means that the rotation no longer has any influence on the performance of the others. Next Sunday in Frankfurt we are challenged again and we should keep in mind that we haven't lost away from home yet this season.
