Hofmann: “I do think we showed signs of life despite the defeat”

Making his return from injury, Jonas Hofmann spoke to the media after the 2-1 defeat at home to Union Berlin. We have all the latest for you here.

Jonas Hofmann on...

... yesterday’s performance: It’s a very tough loss to take. We actually did quite well as a group, but still conceded two goals once again. We need to take responsibility for that. I think we would have been good value for the win, because you could see we fought hard and threw ourselves into the task. We showed our most important strengths on the pitch, but weren’t rewarded for them, because we were asleep at key moments. At the end of the day, we’ve got no points once again – that’s what counts.

... the reaction to going 1-0 down: I think we showed a good reaction to going a goal down. We stayed in the game, created one or two chances and deserved our equaliser. We also showed good high pressing in periods of the second half and won the ball back well. We were on top and did some good stuff, even if we maybe didn’t create the best chances. The one I think of most clearly is Matze Ginter’s shot at the ‘keeper and then Luca Netz putting the rebound over. When things are going well, that always goes in, but when things aren’t going too great it always goes over.

... conceding the late winner: We were asleep for the second goal, even though we were on top in the game before that and had actually taken away the hope of getting something from the game from our opponents. Nevertheless, we still gave them the win at the end of the game. It’s so annoying, and what we’re doing defensively at the moment is not good enough. That doesn’t just go to the actual defensive line, but the whole team too. We need to show that we all want to improve our situation as quickly as possible.

... conclusions from the game: Despite the defeat, I do think we showed signs of life. The team demonstrated that they do want to get out of this tough situation. We all tried everything and gave our all – now we have no other option than to keep building on that.

... his return following five weeks out with injury: It was only a minor knee injury, so I wasn’t out for too long. I hadn’t done too many training sessions with the team after coming back, but I felt good and trusted my knee. We discussed before the game that I would start and then see how long I could go for. In the end, I played around 80 minutes.