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Jakob Fimpel: It was an intense game from the outset
Following the 2-2 draw in Saturday evening’s clash against Hertha BSC, interim head coach Jakob Fimpel looked back at the intense affair alongside opposite number Christian Fiél. Kenan Karaman and Ron Schallenberg also weighed in with their thoughts on the match.
Jakob Fimpel:
I’m not sure. It was an intense game from the outset. Both sides committed a couple of minor fouls. We conceded first, but the team reacted really well. It’s something that you can build on. Both in Münster as well as here today, we came back after going behind. We’ve got a lot of quality going forward – that was evident with the equalizer. The one-two and Kenan Karaman’s shot – it was exactly like we planned. It lets you see what’s possible. We were really happy going into half-time 2-1 up. I told the boys to stay active and not drop too deep. Hertha then played exceptionally well and sped things up a bit. The fact that they equalized from the spot was… okay. We were more active again after the second goal. I’m most annoyed that we’re happy with the point instead of taking the confidence from the game against Münster. I hope that the team keep going down this path and continue having faith in their footballing ability, because they’re talented.
Christian Fiél:
I think we started the match well and deserved to go in front. We needed to get a second goal. Then, I can’t really explain what happened next. We completed lost control. We wanted to defend Schalke man-for-man, but we ended up giving them too much space. Schalke grew into the game after that and scored two goals. You can’t defend your penalty area like that. I think we played really well up until we scored our second goal. When we equalized, the game turned again and we let the game slip out of our hands. I can’t really say whether that’s okay or not.
Kenan Karaman:
At the end of the day, a draw doesn’t feel like enough. We deserved the three points, because we started well, came back amazingly after going behind and showed our mentality. We took our foot off the gas in the second half, but I still think the penalty decision that got Hertha back into the game was wrong. That being said, we’ll take the point, of course. We’ve stabilised a bit now, given that we’ve got four points from two games. We’ll continue to work hard during the international break and go into our next matches with confidence. Recently, we’ve been good at certain moments in the games, but we can get better. If we get a bit more accurate, I’m sure that things will be really good.
Ron Schallenberg:
I stand by the fact that, with the penalty, I got to the ball first and then made contact with the player – on the whole, it’s not enough to give a penalty. I made that pretty clear to the referee, too. At the end of the day, 2-2 is a deserved result for both sides, since we reacted well after going behind by scoring two lovely goals. Then, we dropped a bit too deep. Jakob has restabilized us, given us a lot of confidence and has a clear gameplan. Four points is good, and we have Jakob to thank for that, because it wasn’t an easy situation for him to come in and fix.
