BVB actors reflect on "careless" Pokal performance: "The worst I've seen from us in a long time."
BVB trainer Edin Terzic, squad captain Marco Reus, starting forward Julian Brandt, starting keeper Gregor Kobel, and Dortmund bosses Sebastian Kehl and Hans-Joachim Watzke were understandably distraught after a second loss on the trot sent their club crashing out of the DFB Pokal last night.
Having evidently failed to learn their lessons from the Saturday league defeat against FC Bayern München that cost them first place in the Bundesliga table, Dortmund were once again thoroughly dominated by RB Leipzig last night in a match that cost them their run at German football's domestic cup. On pitch actors Marco Reus and Julian Brandt had nothing positive to say when reflecting upon the defeat.
"We didn't deserve to win the game today," Brandt told the Sky mics afterwards, "Offensively, we were absolutely harmless and defensively too open. All of this was ablsultely about our own inability. We couldn't manage to hang onto the ball in the first half. We kept playing straight into the Leipzig pressing. We were extremely lucky that we didn't concede in the opening ten minutes."
Squad captain Marco Reus, who had taken it upon himself to be the voice of optimism after the Bayern loss, concurred. Reus noted that "Leipzig chewed up [our forward play] in his own post-match interview. Reus and keeper Gregor Kobel both lamented the "absolute crap start" the team had gotten off to after the international break. BVB bosses Sebastian Kehl and Hans-Joachim Watzke used stronger language still.
"I'm disappointed beyond all measure," Watzke told the local Ruhrnachrichten newspaper in a post-match interview, "We've thrown two chances at a trophy away carelessly. One must question how this team recklessly tore down eight months of hard work. We have proven leaders on the pitch who didn't show up."
"This is the worst I've seen from us in a long time," Kehl told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, "It's inexplicable how we played in the first half. Nothing about our preparation indicated we would see that. We prepared conscientiously. Now I'm afraid that this will get into our heads."
Trainer Terzic blew off his fair share of steam as well, regretting the fact that the team had "pissed away a chance at a trophy with a shitty evening". Terzic, like Brandt, nevertheless pointed out that there wasn't all that much time to process the latest disappointment. Dortmund host third-place 1. FC Union Berlin on Saturday.
Should Dortmund drop their third match on-the-spin, Union will take over second place and Bayern could potentially put die Schwarzgelben six points adrift of first-place. Brandt spoke of the "additional pressure" Dortmund had put themselves under. Kobel and Terzic demanded that the team "collect themselves."