“It’s going to be a fight to the end”
Unhappy faces and heads hanging low – a look into the interview area after full time showed just how disappointed Hertha were with their 4-1 defeat at home to 1. FC Union in the derby. “We’re all extremely disappointed; we imagined the game going differently. The way we played just after half time was good, and we were the side on top: it’s impossible to explain why we let this game slip away from us. It’s a painful one for us all,” said a dejected Maxi Mittelstädt. As ever, all the post-match reaction is here at herthabsc.com.
Marcel Lotka: We had high aspirations. You could really see what this game meant to the fans in the stands – they gave us a huge amount of support. We were lucky to only go into the break one goal down, and after the restart we levelled things up straight away, so it’s incredibly hard to take that second goal we conceded so quickly after scoring. We really believed in ourselves at that moment, but then it became blow after blow. We need to take responsibility for this: it certainly wasn’t a lack of support to blame. We have five games left and we need to score points, no matter how.
Maximilian Mittelstädt: It’s very difficult to find the right words at the moment. We’re all extremely disappointed; we imagined the game going differently. The way we played just after half time was good, and we were the side on top: it’s impossible to explain why we let this game slip away from us through such silly mistakes. It’s no wonder the fans are angry after a game like this; it’s a painful one for us all, but we can’t let this game be the death of us – we have three absolute six pointers coming up, and we need to show another side to ourselves!
Fredi Bobic: We’ve lost a game – you don’t get points for losing. It’s hard to take when you’re at home in such fantastic support against Union, but we deserved to lose; you have to say that. We let them take their chances when we had the upper hand. Our fans supported the team fantastically until the final whistle – I understand their anger in losing three derbies in a row; that’s not fun for any of us. Union are just stronger than we are right now and we need to accept that. Not much has changed in terms of the league table; we have everything in our own hands still, but we need to do a lot more than we have to succeed. We’ve got three opponents ahead of us who are around us in the league. Relegation fights are always difficult, never easy. It was and it’s going to be a fight, and it will be to the end.