BLESSIN: "ONLY THING MISSING WAS A GOAL"
Saturday, 26. October 2024, 19:53 Uhr
The Boys in Brown produced a fine performance against VfL Wolfsburg at the Millerntor but were unable to claim their reward in the shape of the first win at home. Afterwards they looked back on the game with mixed feelings.
Head coach Alexander Blessin: "It was a goalless draw but no less interesting for that, it was end-to-end stuff at times. We played very well in the first half. We were organised in various blocks and won lots of balls. A good performance in which the only thing missing was a goal. Two Johannes Eggestein situations sum it up. He finished the first with his left foot, which was absolutely the right thing to do. Five minutes later he had the ball on his stronger right foot but then unselfishly knocked it across to Danel Sinani, which was a pity. We created enough chances for two games today. Wolfsburg are a really good team, as we saw in the second half. We couldn't exert the same pressure and were too destructive. We invited Wolfsburg to score with a few mistakes, but Niko made some good saves. It was a very good game, and we kept a clean sheet. We just didn't score, that's all. If the lads keep working and playing like this, the goals will come, I'm absolutely convinced of that."
Jackson Irvine: "We're frustrated. We wanted to win the game no matter how. Last year started very similar with several goalless draws and eventually the floodgates opened. We have to keep our belief because we have the quality. We showed that today. We had some good moments in transition and found different ways to create chances. We will score eventually. In the end perhaps we lacked a bit concentration or luck, though we were lucky ourselves on a couple of occasions and in Niko we had an excellent keeper. Keeping a clean sheet was important today. Wolfsburg had incredible pace on the pitch and good moments in transition."
Eric Smith: "A point's a point, of course. We had enough chances again to win the game. We can build on the positive performance, but we know we have to test the goalkeeper a bit more. It's always tough when you're up against very quick players, but we let them come at us a bit so we could hit it long. That meant they couldn't exploit their pace."
Hauke Wahl: "Generally it's another step in the right direction. We were extremely good at the back. On the ball we found lots of solutions and created chances repeatedly. We deserved to win. In the end we took a point, unlike other games we ended up losing like the one last week. For us it's still about gaining more stability. It's the third clean sheet this season, which is not bad for a promoted side and something we can build on."
Morgan Guilavogui: "We could have won the game and we could have lost it. Wolfsburg had some good chances and Niko was brilliant in goal. We created lots of opportunities but didn't take them. We overcomplicated things at times. I'm not worried. We have the quality and will start scoring again."
Ralph Hasenhüttl (Wolfsburg coach): "It was 0-0 but more exciting than the scoreline suggests. There were chances at both ends. St. Pauli were busier in the first half, we were busier after the break. For us overall it was about finding some stability after conceding four at home last week. We had to switch things round when Sebastiaan Bornauw fell ill before the game. The lads managed to keep a clean sheet again. In the second half we managed the balancing act of being more solid at the back while creating chances up front. In the end the draw is a fair result."
Photos: Witters