Bittencourt and Werner optimistic despite loss: "We know what we're capable of."
SV Werder Bremen starter Leonardo Bittencourt and his trainer Ole Werner made certain to emphasize that there were plenty of positives to take away from their third consecutive league loss when conducting post-match interviews last night.
A third successive league loss leaves SV Werder Bremen in 14th-place in the Bundesliga table. Relegation rivals FC Augsburg and VfL Bochum have a chance to overtake the Hanseatic city-state club this weekend. Ole Werner's team may end up in the relegation zone after the weekend is through.
Traveling to Signal Iduna Park to play Borussia Dortmund was certainly never going to be an easy task. After the full-time whistle, Werner and starter Leonardo Bittencourt did wish to emphasize that they were pleased to have held their hosts to just one goal.
"A pity that we lost the way we did," Werner told German broadcaster DAZN afterwards, "We didn't have enough pressure on the ball in that moment [during Julian Brandt's goal]. Everything went wrong in that instant."
"We did well for very long stretches and made it very difficult for Dortmund," Bittencourt added, "In the end, a world class pass and beautiful goal did us in. It's bitter that we didn't take a point because it is a sport in which one needs points."
Both Bittencourt and Werner commented on the lack of attacking opportunities generated by the north German side. Bittencourt noted that the team was far too preoccupied with defending to "play the last pass" perfectly on approach play and counters. Both actors nevertheless wished express satisfaction and excuse calm when it came to the challenges the team faced in the upcoming weeks.
"If others don't think that we can do it, we really don't care," Bittencourt told his interviewer, "We know what we're capable of. We knew that we could present ourselves well here today."
"Internally, it's very calm," Bittencourt said of the mood in the locker room, "Of course, nobody likes to lose. We still know in which direction we wish to head. We have to remain calm."
"There's some disruption within the team," the 29-year-old concluded, "Most of the pressure still comes from the outside. If we weren't a team, we couldn't have performed at Dortmund the way we did."