“A deserved win” - Bielefeld match reaction

We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 1-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday afternoon.

Jonas Hofmann: We’ll happily take a 1-0 win, even though it obviously should have been more. We can be pleased with three points though – that’s the most important thing. We of course had hoped to translate our dominance into goals in the first half to help wrap the game up earlier. We know that we weren’t clinical enough and that we didn’t score enough goals. Nevertheless, it was still a commanding performance and so we deserved to get the win.

Yann Sommer: We’re very happy to have gotten the win, although it of course should have been by more with the number of chances we had. The important thing is that we’re creating opportunities though. We did really well in the first half and got at their defence. Your opponents are bound to get a little tired at some point and then one of those chances goes in. A second goal would have made things a little more comfortable, but we defended well and saw the result over the line.

Denis Zakaria: That game felt good for me. I know that it’s difficult to get back into your rhythm after eight months out. I’m happy to be able to help out the team again, but I also know that I need time before I’m back at 100 percent. I’m working hard every day to get back to my old level.

Marco Rose: It was a thoroughly deserved win. We got in behind a lot and won the ball back well, which led to a lot of chances. It was a pleasing team performance, which is the focus for me. That’s why I’m not overly annoyed about the chances we missed. Of course it would have been nice to score two, three or four goals, but that’s not happening for us at the moment. There will come a phase where the ball finds its way into the net a little easier. It’s important that we make our own luck at the moment – our focused defensive display coupled with a goal at the other end ensured that we did.

Bielefeld head coach Uwe Neuhaus: There was a marked difference between the sides in the opening 15 minutes or so. We didn’t start well at all and were very disorganised. Gladbach possibly could have decided the game in that period, or at least put themselves in a very good position. We started to get a foothold halfway through the half and we had a really good chance just before the break through Sergio Còrdova. The second 45 was a little more open, although that meant that we gave our opponents a bit more space too. We ended up losing, but the character we showed, pushing hard until the end to try and get a result, was good. Nevertheless, a draw wouldn’t have been a fair result.