A lot of positives, but no points

“Our performance for the first 70 minutes was impressive. We were pushing for the goal and had good chances in the first half,” praised Head of Sport Jochen Schneider, who added “but we didn’t score.” The hosts managed to get the goals themselves, with Andrej Kramaric (71’) and Ihlas Bebou (85’) beating Nübel in the second half. David Wagner remarked “they deserved to win, as they score the goals and we didn’t.”

The Schalke head coach also felt that the defeat was definitely avoidable. “One reason we all love this game so much is the fact that the better team doesn’t necessarily always win the game,” said the 48-year-old. His Hoffenheim counterpart Alfred Schreuder mainly agreed with Wagner’s statements on the game: “Schalke were on top for a long period of the game. They are the best team we’ve faced so far this season,” explained the Dutchman, whose side won in Munich on the previous matchday.

Schneider was pleased that S04 looked to dominate and control the game away from home. “We said from the start that we wanted to play with confidence and try to win the game. It’s a shame that we didn’t take the three points. It’s not that important that we didn’t go top of the league. I’m not looking at the table right now.”

Confident ahead of the derby

Amine Harit also remained positive after the final whistle, as he looked forward to next week. “It was one of our best games this season, but we were lacking that killer instinct. You can’t win the game if you don’t score,” said the Moroccan international. “Despite the defeat, I still feel that we are heading in the right direction. We won’t let our heads drop and will go into the derby with confidence. We all know how important this game is.”

Benjamin Stambouli was also able to draw positives from the performance against Hoffenheim. “Obviously the result wasn’t good, but you can’t criticise the way we played. We simply have to take our chances in the derby now,” said the French defender.