After losing 3-2 at home against Eintracht Frankfurt, Christopher Kramer took questions from the media. The 30-year-old spoke about the team’s performance, the Foals’ current form and his role in the squad when he was sidelined with injury.
Christopher Kramer on...
...the game as a whole: The first half was definitely a step in the right direction, even though we didn’t put Frankfurt under huge amounts of pressure. We tried to focus on finding solutions and attempted to get into the spaces that we want to be playing in. It’s easier to look good on the ball in those areas, but also to look good without the ball. In the second half, however, it was chaos again. We shouldn’t concede goals like that, but really we should never concede goals. When Frankfurt went down to ten men, we were in the game more and found more spaces.
...the team’s performance: A draw would have been a fair result. You can always look at two things – the result and the performance. Performance-wise, it was definitely a step in the right direction, but it wasn’t just the match itself that was a good step. The three days of training beforehand were promising and we were also focused on solutions. We have to carry on like that as it’s the correct way forward. We have to keep working hard in training and also in matches. Then we will get our rewards for good performances again.
...the opponent’s rapid response at 2-2: That was something that's hard to explain, but when we made it 2-2 we picked the ball out of the net and thought "now is our moment". Maybe we were a bit emotional after that and piled forward without thinking. They played through us with a one-two and suddenly were through on goal. It wasn’t a question of desire. Everyone wanted it, you could see that when we went behind, but maybe it was a bit too emotional from us.
...their current run of form: Things happen quickly in football. Three or four weeks ago we were two points off the Champions League spots, now we are one point above the relegation places. In such a phase, things come a bit less easily. In five weeks, however, we may be just two points off the European places again. Even so, it's a bit tricky at the moment. Everyone can see where we are in the table, and the table doesn’t lie. It goes without saying that we can move upwards again pretty quickly, but we also have to know where we stand. We got ourselves into this situation over the last few weeks, and now we have to get out of it together. We need to keep our heads.
...possible uncertainty amongst the team: When you can’t explain something, like the 6-0 loss against Freiburg, you immediately think you have to force things. You can’t force anything in football, however. It’s now much more about the way we want to do things. We have been working on that in the last three days and found good solutions – especially when we were a man up. It’s also obvious, however, that everyone is going through a phase where they’re not totally sure of themselves. Therefore, it’s not enough to know what we have to do – we also have to implement things. That’s part of the problem at the moment. Right now, it’s not easy to be confident and sure of yourself which means that sometimes things can get a bit chaotic.
...what people are saying about the team: It’s not important. When you are on the pitch, as a professional you are just concentrating on the game and winning football matches at the end of the day.
...his role in the squad over the last few weeks: I couldn’t wait to be back playing football. When your role is only as an observer, of course you don’t notice as much as when you are in the team. But then you see it during games and can’t explain what has just happened. We can always look for explanations for our current form, but it’s more important that we try to get out of the slump as quickly as possible. We can analyse the 6-0 ‘til the cows come home, but we really have to think about improving performances, and we can only do that by being constructive.
