“A high-intensity battle” - Wolfsburg match reaction

We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 0-0 draw at Wolfsburg on Sunday.

Valentino Lazaro: The plan was always to go for the win. We wanted to play attacking football, press them early and win the ball high up the pitch. It was a fairly even first half. There were phases were Wolfsburg dictated the play, but I think we gained more control by the break. We wanted to come out of half time strongly and that happened early on, but then we lost our thread a little. We weren’t up to scratch going forward for the final 35 minutes and had to do a lot of defending, which is a pity. Wolfsburg played really well though, so I think it is a fair draw.

Lars Stindl: It was a high-intensity match in terms of the ground we covered and the sprints we made. We were up against a really good side; Wolfsburg are in great form at the moment. It was an even first half, although there were a couple of situations where we could have made more out of the position we were in. We came out of the break well and wanted to keep probing, but it didn’t quite go to plan because some sloppiness crept in. Our counterpressing wasn’t effective enough; we didn’t consolidate possession when we won the ball back. However, we didn’t give them much space in our half either and defended brilliantly. The problem is, so did they, particularly in the second half. I think we earned a point today.

Marco Rose: It was a very high-intensity game of football and a real battle from both sides. I think we both defended really well. We had a few good phases going forward, but it’s not easy to find space against an opponent like Wolfsburg. They also upped the pressure quite a bit at the end, so we will happily take the point. We will of course talk about things that we have to improve on. We lost possession too quickly at times, we didn’t make the most of a number of counterattacking opportunities and we often struggled to work through their press. All in all, though, it was a passionate and positive defensive display.

Wolfsburg head coach Oliver Glasner: It felt like we were always on the front foot. There were three or four opportunities in the second half where we could have taken the lead, like Brooks’ header against the post or that shot at the end from Schlager. We were close to the opener, but we were missing precision in the final third. We worked our way up their last line well, but then the ball in behind wasn’t played at the right moment and some of our crossing wasn’t accurate enough, so you end up with a 0-0 draw. I’m very happy with the performance though, especially in the second half.