Coach, what do you make of this frustrating result?

The good fortune that we didn't have tonight was around a month ago, when we were playing less well than now. We scored relatively quickly and perhaps subconsciously we thought it was in the bag. The rhythm of our passing and movement dropped and that's all it takes to stop destabilising your opponent. We had trouble getting going in the second half and we conceded the goal. In the final 20 minutes, we played excellent football and we had chances to score.

How do you explain the difficulties after the break?

We had already eased up in the ten minutes after we scored our goal, and we did it again at the beginning of the second half. We needed to stay very focused and compact, but our opponents got into our final 20 metres too easily, even though their goal was a slightly lucky one.

Still, your players had chances to win it…

We played very quickly towards the end, and we created a lot of chances. We should have won this match. When you dominate, with that much possession at 1-0, you have to score a second goal. Hit them hard and break into the area. We only managed to do that towards the end, and that's when we created the chances.

Do you think your lads sat back a bit too much at 1-0 ?

I don't think that was it. A lapse in concentration perhaps. But that happens… against Lorient we weren't very good, and at 1-1 they hit the bar while we had just the one chance and scored just after their miss… that's football too.

You didn't make any substitutions…

No. I found that we pounced back in the final stages; I thought we were playing well.

Is the busy calendar starting to take its toll?

Not at all. A lot of players who started tonight didn't start in Schalke. And we were strong at the end of the match, so fatigue is no excuse.

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