Baum: “We are extremely disappointed with the late goal”

In their final match of 2018, FC Augsburg showed strong morale to fight back from 2-0 down at home to VfL Wolfsburg. Ultimately, the hosts came up short in an agonising 3-2 defeat. “We were simply too naïve when we conceded,” said a visibly disappointed Manuel Baum after the match. Here is the post match reaction. Jeffrey Gouweleeuw: “I don’t think we’ve ever started a match so poorly. However, we didn’t respond to their first goal well at all. On too many occasions, we were too far apart from Wolfsburg players. We couldn’t win our tackles and conceded again. The second half was much better and the fans helped us push for an equaliser. However, it was just rotten luck at the end. Wolfsburg countered from our own free-kick to score the winner.” André Hahn: “That was extremely disappointing. We didn’t play well in the first half. After half-time, we gave everything we could and eventually found the two goals we deserved. It is enormously disappointing to concede the final goal after our own free-kick. That simply shouldn’t happen.” Rani Khedira: “After our worst first half performance, we patched things up at half-time. We managed to sustain this almost for the entire second half. We simply couldn’t secure as many points as we wanted to after 17 matches. We have only secured 15 points. There is no explanation so soon after a match why effort and reward are not going hand in hand right now. We have regularly shown that we can perform well but we have to secure points in the process. We will start working hard once more on 3rd January.” Kevin Danso: “We aren’t pleased with our first half performance. Our reaction was much better after half-time. We approached the second half exactly right, won our challenges and deservedly equalised. It is therefore extremely disappointing to concede a third goal late on.” Daniel Baier: “We lost the feeling of how we best play football after conceding the opening goal. Consequently, we went into half-time two goals down. Despite this deficit, we managed to step up and draw level. We didn’t everything possible to turn the match around. You cannot allow the opposition to counter from your own set-piece in the 89th minute. We have to ask ourselves if we did everything right. However, in Augsburg, we know that we have to work together and will turn it around in 2019. We’ve done it before so know we can do it again.” Manuel Baum: “It was a very, very poor first half performance. We could’ve been 3-0 down at the break. We were simply too naïve when we conceded and were punished for this. At half-time, we reminded ourselves of the fundamental values that Augsburg is fantastic at. We came out for the second-half and did everything possible to score the third goal of the match. At home, you cannot allow your opponents to counter so close to the end of the match. Of course we are incredibly disappointed but the post-match reaction of the fans was amazing. That is what makes Augsburg stand out as a club. Despite a defeat and only securing 15 points so far this season, they continued to get behind the team.” Bruno Labbadia: “We put in a very good first half performance, making our opponents do the work and allowing FCA no grip on the match. We were able to pull a third goal out of the bag. You have to give FCA a compliment for their second half performance. They fought back and we couldn’t do anything about their fightback. FCA then drew level. However, it was impressive to see the lads turn the match back in our favour. We richly deserve the 28 points we have secured so far this season.”