Marvin Pieringer: I cannot really celebrate my first goal

It was a disappointing encounter for Dimitrios Grammozis against his former employers SV Darmstadt 98 on Sunday 7th November, as Lilies coach Torsten Lieberknecht came away with three points from the VELTINS-Arena. The head coaches, S04 captain Danny Latza and Marvin Pieringer, who scored his first goal for the Royal Blues during the game, spoke to the press after the match, and schalke04.de has summarised their match reaction.

Dimitrios Grammozis:

We’re disappointed about the result. We made a great start by going 1-0 up, but then we made some poor decisions on the pitch. You could say we played with too much heart instead of ensuring our performance was well-structured. When you look at the goals we conceded, you’ll see that we were caught out after losing possession too many times, and our opponents efficiently converted their chances. We were punished by a brutal Darmstadt side today. As soon as you thought we were getting back into it, SVD would score again. We’ll shake it off and look ahead to the next game.

Torsten Lieberknecht:

We’re incredibly happy, and I’m proud of how we conducted ourselves today. When you win 4-2, it’s always easy to say that the team played well, but football is sometimes more than just tactics. It’s about passion and pushing through the barriers. My team did exactly that. We went 1-0 down, but then found a response immediately. I wasn’t unsettled at all. Both goals were cleanly executed. When it got to 3-2, we looked set for a tense ending, but my lads went straight back up the other end and put it to bed. This game is a huge step in the right direction, and will help us on our journey.

Danny Latza:

This wasn’t the result we were looking for, and it’s disappointing to have not been successful in front of the home crowd. We started well by taking the lead, but lost control of the game up until the break. We gave up possession too easily and too often, and our play lacked precision. We gifted Darmstadt their goals today, it has to be said, and I made a vital error in the build-up to their second goal. Our mistakes allowed Darmstadt into the game, and we need to put a stop to this.