Six straight wins, an attack seemingly guaranteed to score—and then an afternoon when I would have welcomed a halfway decent move as a morale booster. In the 3–0 defeat at Hoffenheim, there was precious little sign of the Werkself that had been so entertaining lately. My Bayer-tinted glasses can handle a lot. But even they cannot turn possession into scoring chances.
The game could have gone our way early on. Schick laid it off, Tella hit it first time, just wide. A good move that unfortunately became more of a distant memory than a sign of things to come. After that, we lacked precision, pace and any convincing idea of how to deal with Hoffenheim’s aggression. The hosts pressed relentlessly, won important challenges and gave us barely any space. Hlozek hitting the post after we lost the ball playing out from the back summed up the afternoon. By half-time, I was happier with the goalless score than I cared to admit.
The six changes from the game in Crete only go so far as an explanation. Compared with our previous Bundesliga starting line-up, Tella replacing Moreira was the only alteration. This was hardly an experimental side thrown together at short notice. I do not expect a footballing masterpiece after a European away trip, but surely we can ask for more than misplaced passes and a largely anonymous Schick. Diaby going off injured shortly before the break made matters worse.
Things improved after half-time, mainly through Maza. He tried to make something happen, looked for solutions and occasionally unsettled Hoffenheim’s defence. Yet longer spells of possession still produced far too little danger. For me, that was the central problem: we gained more control of the ball without really taking control of the game.
Then came the challenge between Tapsoba and Asllani, the VAR intervention and Kramaric’s penalty to put Hoffenheim ahead. Of course a moment like that annoys me. But I am not going to turn it into a convenient excuse for this performance. Especially when we had an immediate chance to respond: Tapsoba headed the ball down, Maza had a huge opportunity to equalise—and fired over. When you create so little in a tight game, you have to take a chance like that.
In the closing minutes, a poor afternoon became an ugly scoreline. Prass made it 2–0, Badé had to be stretchered off after colliding with Moerstedt, and the third goal followed in stoppage time. By then, concern for Badé was competing with my frustration at the football. Hopefully there will be reassuring news about both him and Diaby soon.
One 3–0 defeat does not erase the good work of recent weeks. But it does show that this team needs an answer when opponents deny it time and space. Against Nürnberg, I want to see determination again. Winning runs are nice. A proper response to a performance like this matters more.
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