Kramer: "Tough to take"

Midfielder Christoph Kramer spoke following Gladbach’s 2-1 defeat against TSG Hoffenheim. The 29-year-old discussed the run of the game, the team’s return after 13 games and the actions of Marcus Thuram.

Christoph Kramer on…

… the run of the game: In the first half we should have scored more goals, given the number of chances we had. Overall we played well across the opening 60 minutes. I think we had our best spell in the second half when Hoffenheim readjusted. We took to it well. Until conceding, we dealt with them well. At that point, Hoffenheim weren’t breaking through and we held them far from our goal. We had a lot of good possession and were finding ways to break through on the wings. I had the feeling that we were in control of the game. Before the equaliser we pushed high with both centre backs and conceded a goal on the counter that we shouldn’t have. At the point of the game where the spaces are getting larger and there’s more opportunity for a counter attack, it’s suddenly 1-1. That was tough to take.

… the spell after the equaliser: The game changed after they made it 1-1 because Hoffenheim sat deeper and allowed us to come onto them. We also finished the game with ten men. Therefore, we weren’t able to find the space as well and had to drop deeper. Then we conceded a dilly goal when Hannes Wolf was down injured, so we were playing with nine men at that point. Right at the back, the full back was free to put it in the net.

… Borussia’s performance after 13 games: In the Bundesliga, we’ve got four or five points too little when you consider our performances. The 18 points that we’re sitting on at the moment aren’t enough. In a few home games, we’ve been very unlucky and conceded late goals despite the fact that we should have put the game to bed earlier. In games like that, we didn’t reward our performance and therefore we’re a few points behind where we should be. If we weren’t trying to chase these lost points, we wouldn’t have lost the Hoffenheim game either, but that’s football. The season so far hasn’t been good, but it hasn’t been bad, but the first half of the season isn’t over yet – we still have a few more games ahead of us in the new year.

… the high workload in recent weeks: We’re definitely feeling the effects of the high workload. We also have a lot of players who have played every game despite hardly having a pre-season. However, workload is not an excuse, especially when the opposition has been in the same situation. During the week in Frankfurt, we showed that we still have energy and we’re not lacking in fitness.

… the Marcus Thuram incident: I think Marcus must have blown a fuse. I don’t know what happened beforehand, but that should never happen. You can’t do that, it goes without saying. It is difficult to explain that.