Martin Fraisl: Frustrated about the missed chances, but praise for the returning players

“After the first 15 to 20 minutes, it was almost like a goal was only a matter of time for us,” said Martin Fraisl. One of the close chances came after five minutes when Simon Terodde hit the bar from Victor Pálsson’s cross – although it probably wouldn’t have stood had it gone in with Pálsson in an offside position. “We had a few chances in the first half that we didn’t take,” added Fraisl, who also praised his opposite number, Thomas Dähne. The Kiel ‘keeper made a great save to deny Salif Sané’s long-range piledriver in the 35th minute, denying Schalke the opener and Sané a dream return to the side on his first start of the season. “Salif was really good,” praised Fraisl. “He managed to play a large part of the game and gave us some real stability. His communication was good and he was very decisive with his play. We could do with a Salif like this more often in the second half of the season,” summed up the Austrian.

Fraisl also had some positive words for another teammate who made his return from injury. Simon Terodde scored after a four-game absence at the end of 2021. “Simon is phenomenal. I knew that he’d score straight away once he came back,” said Fraisl. “He doesn’t need any time to get going, he’s always in form in front of goal. It was a fantastic goal.”

Nevertheless, Fraisl’s main emotion after Sunday was disappointment over the result. After all, the Knappen wanted to start 2022 with a win. “We made a few unnecessary mistakes in our build-up play and that allowed them to break on us,” analysed Fraisl, who believes that that allowed Kiel to get into the game: “As a result of those errors, we lost our control of the game somewhat and then conceded in the second half.” S04’s number 30 is confident that the team will put this setback quickly behind them: “This draw will have no impact on the game against Aue.”