Post-Match Report
Reactions: "Far too little away from home"
Sebastian Kehl (in the mixed zone): "The red card was unnecessary, and you see them given. It did not play into our hands at all. As a result, the match took an entirely different course. You cannot really blame the team at all because they tried everything. We were really good at the beginning, had the game under control and pinned Mainz in at the back. But with fewer players, in the final match of a very intense few weeks that we have under our belts, with hardly any personnel changes available, it was clear that it would be very difficult. The team lost their energy and, after going 3-1 down, a bit of their belief too. I had hoped that we would keep it at 1-1 for longer. The goal for 2-1 right before half-time was extremely bitter. It's been far too little this season away from home – one point from five away games doesn't live up to our expectations. We will use the international break and we hope that one or two players will return afterwards. We want to pick up a lot of points in November and December in order to stay in touch. It's all still relatively close in the table. Other teams are not so stable yet either."
Julian Brandt (to Sky): "You have to be honest about it: the early red card absolutely did not help us. But it is not the reason why we conceded three goals. It is, however, the reason why it got more difficult at the end. I think Emre knows himself that he needs to be a bit more cautious there. He's very upset with his own actions. But ultimately we should leave it at that. We've now gotten ourselves caught in a spiral. With a full band we could have brought energy into the stadium. Only successful results help us at the moment. We actually wanted to start with that today; we wanted to make it a perfect week after Leipzig and Graz. We were met with extreme resistance once again, which was to be expected. In the end, we made two or three individual mistakes too many."
Pascal Groß (in the mixed zone): "We actually had a good feeling, the last two or three matches have been better. We've played intensively, no longer given so much away and created many chances ourselves. Whether away or at home: It's the same pitch. And we always have thousands of fans in attendance. It feels like you can hear our fans louder than the home fans. We need to approach the away games like we do the home games, because we have the support. Today they saw and honoured the fact that we were down to 10 men for over 60 minutes and gave everything. We did not give up, we tried, but lacked the final penetration. We absolutely wanted to win and also made a good start to the match. Shortly before half-time we levelled the scores at 1-1 with 10 men, but we need to manage to take the 1-1 scoreline in at half-time."
Transcribed by Boris Rupert
Nuri Sahin's statements at the press conference will follow.