“We were defensively very good” | OneFootball

Dino Toppmöller, Ansgar Knauff and Mario Götze with the reaction to the 1-0 home win against Werder Bremen.

Head coach Dino Toppmöller: “We’re happy about the 1-0 win against a strong Bremen side because we knew it’d be difficult against them. The fans expected more of an attacking spectacle but both teams defended very well. There’s been a lot of talk about our attack recently – today we were defensively very good. One moment of quality was enough and it was a top finish from Mario. I had a feeling he’d score. We always want him to get into the box, and it’s even nicer when it works out like that.”

Mario Götze: “It was a hard-fought win. Heki [Hugo Ekitiké] did well to see me for the goal. Of course I’m pleased about the milestone, but at the end of the day it’s just a number and you don’t do anything special for it. In football it’s always about having fun and winning the game. We did that, which is the important thing.”

Ansgar Knauff: “It was a tough game with a lot of fight. Perhaps it wasn’t the best in terms of football from either team, which makes it even more important to come away with the three points. They’re exactly the kind of games that we didn’t win enough of last season. We know that it wasn’t all perfect. Second place is the result of our work so far and at the same time an incentive. We’ve grown together, we’re in good form and want to stay in this flow. We have some tricky weeks ahead of us.”