"There was a clear difference in quality today!" - Kwasniok after the derby loss
| Köln coach Lukas Kwasniok. | Photo: Lars Baron / Getty Images. |
FC Köln head coach Lukas Kwasniok offered a frank assessment of his side’s Rheinderby defeat, conceding that Bayer Leverkusen were clearly superior over the course of both halves.
“In my opinion, there was a clear difference in quality today,” Kwasniok said. “We were inferior to Leverkusen. A Champions League contender played against a newly promoted side, and you could really see that. We haven’t been this overmatched in many games this season.”
Köln struggled to cope with Leverkusen both offensively and defensively, something Kwasniok partly attributed to the demands of individual duels. “You have to rotate a lot in games like this,” he explained. “Otherwise, we’re simply not better than the opponent in one-on-one situations. Leverkusen handled things better today, going forward and at the back. My players often had to chase the game, and at times it looked a bit wild - that’s something we need to improve.”
Despite the defeat, Kwasniok remained focused on the bigger picture and reiterated Köln’s objectives for the season. “We’ll be fighting to stay up this season,” he said. “We built ourselves a nice cushion in the opening games, but we have to keep going and win against our direct competitors - then we’ll manage it. That takes concentration and hard work.”
The Köln coach also pointed to missed opportunities to take the lead in recent matches. “We need to make sure that, like in other games, we go in front and are able to defend that lead,” he added. “Overall, we’ve already dropped too many points in that regard.”
Set-piece defending, an area in which Köln had shown improvement recently, proved costly against Leverkusen. “We actually defended set pieces with a lot of passion last week,” Kwasniok said. “But today there were some misunderstandings, and we couldn’t defend them as well. I’m not blaming my team - we just need to get better at it.”
Kwasniok concluded by urging calm and persistence. “We need to stay relaxed, keep working, and things will improve,” he said, as Köln turn their attention to the battles that will ultimately define their season.
