David Wagner: We scored some good goals but defended too naively

Although Wagner believes the results not to be the main focus in pre-season games, Saturday’s is something “that shouldn’t be happening, even despite our fatigue,” said the head coach after the 5-4 defeat against the third-division outfit.

All nine goals came in the first half of the game, which consisted of two extended halves of 60 minutes. “In the first half, we were strong going forward and we scored some good goals,” stated Wagner. “However, we defended too naively. Our protection was poor and we made a number of technical errors which invited the other team to counter-attack.”

A beautiful feeling to have fans back in the stands

In contrast to the goals conceded out on the pitch, it was a beautiful feeling to have fans back in the stands again, said Wagner. Although this was nothing extraordinary, it was “something different” to the past few months since the Bundesliga restart.

It was also important that none of the players picked up any injuries despite the extended playing time, though Sebastian Rudy had to sit the game out. “Sebastian developed a muscular issue during the warm-up so we decided not to risk playing him, but the rest of the team were fine after the match,” reported the head coach.

All in all, Wagner has a positive impression of the first two weeks of pre-season. “The boys are focused and it’s having a good impact on the team as a whole,” praised the coach. “The high temperatures created tough conditions but we’ll keep our standards high. There’s only four weeks until our first game in the DFB-Pokal and the league starts the week after that. We’ll use this time to keep working hard.”