“It’s a loss that really hurts” - #BMGKOE reaction

We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 3-1 defeat to Köln on Saturday night.

Jordan Beyer: It’s a loss that really hurts. Losing two derbies in a season is a seriously bitter pill to swallow, and it particularly disappointing to get beaten so easily at home by Köln. Our first half was poor – we didn’t have any answers in defence or going forward. We didn’t look good for their goals at all; we were a yard slower to every ball. I completely understand the fans’ whistles, as it wasn’t a good performance at all.

Luca Netz: There isn’t much you can say about that performance really. It’s incredibly tough to have lost such an important game, particularly for the fans – they don’t deserve that. We weren’t able to give them anything back as a team. We didn’t implement our game plan at all in the first half. We didn’t get stuck into the challenges and the second ball always fell to Köln. We were better in the second half, but it was hard to come back from that deficit. Our goal came too late. It will take some time for us to make up for today.

Jonas Hofmann: It’s a painful defeat. We win together and we lose together. Our opponents didn’t have to work hard enough for their goals – we made it way too easy for them. This match is something special for the entire club. We went into the game feeling positive, but we didn’t implement our game plan. I had a huge chance to make it 2-1 that I should have taken. Getting back to within a goal would have given us a real push. We’ve been on the up over the last four games. We had been solid and only conceded one goal, but then today was the complete opposite. It’s not very Gladbach-like.

Adi Hütter: It’s a painful day for us. We have to apologise to the fans for that performance. We wanted to go about the game very differently and put our opponents under pressure, but we didn’t manage to do that at any stage. It’s hard to find an explanation. After the opening goal, we just allowed Köln to get the better of us. We picked up ten points across the past four games and we could have made up a lot of ground today, but we couldn’t carry on that momentum. We want to play positive, attractive and exciting football, but we didn’t see any of that today. It’s inexplicable as we had done so much better in recent games. It’s extremely frustrating for all of us to have put in such a performance.

1. FC Köln head coach Steffen Baumgart: I don’t want to get too euphoric, but it was a very good first half. We scored our goals at the right moments and implemented our game plan very well. The second half wasn’t quite what we were hoping for though and we didn’t stretch the play enough. All in all though, I thought it was a fantastic performance here in Gladbach, which hasn’t always been the case. We can be pleased with a deserved three points.