Naldo after 2-1 defeat: This will not derail us

Naldo, your reunion with Werder was a lot nicer in the reverse fixture, wasn’t it?

Of course! This was a painful defeat – we actually had Werder under complete control, then we gave the game away. We need to be more clinical with our chances in future, which we’d already spoken about after the home game against Hannover. This time, again, we had a lot of chances which we didn’t take. Going 2-0 up would definitely have put the game to bed.

As the oldest player, did you have to give Fährmann some words of comfort and encouragement?

The equaliser is not a topic of discussion for us. Ralle is having an outstanding season, so nobody will be criticising him. We didn’t lose because of that mistake, but because we didn’t stay focused after going 1-0 up.

Even when down to ten men there were opportunities to go 2-1 up…

After their equaliser we were desperate to go back in front, but this meant we neglected our defence somewhat. If we’d stayed compact, we would definitely have come away with a point, but what happened happened. On Wednesday we need to bounce back against Wolfsburg in the cup. We need to concentrate and take our chances.

How would you assess this defeat with regard to the table?

This defeat will not derail us – the table is still very tight. Leverkusen, for example, also dropped points. Obviously we didn’t expect to lose, especially after taking the lead, but defeats like this are just part of the game. We need to learn from this and show more desire in future.

Could this result have an influence on the coming fixtures?

No, I don’t think it will. We need to shrug this defeat off quickly – we’re now fully focused on the game against Wolfsburg; we’re desperate to reach the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal. It will be a tough task, but I’m confident we’ll win it in front of our own fans.