Bebou: "We no longer had any control"

Here's what the players and coaches had to say after the 3-1 defeat at Union Berlin.

Oliver Baumann: "The pressure from Union in the second half was enormous. They pushed almost four players up on the flanks which meant that we could never really apply pressure on the ball. We were only defending in the second half and then at some point a shot goes into the net. The second goal we conceded is of course enormously unfortunate. We knew that Union are enormously dangerous from set-pieces. It's incredibly frustrating but we no longer played football in the second half. Things looked significantly better in the first half. It's frustrating that we no longer had any rhythm."

Ihlas Bebou: "We no longer had any control in the second half. We knew what was awaiting us but could not play the way we wanted. We deservedly led in the first half but then no longer showed the required performance levels. I can't say what the exact reason for that was. Union applied pressure and we did not keep hold of the ball. I was lucky that the penalty did not go in; I had a blackout there."

André Breitenreiter: "We saw two different halves. Everything came off the way we'd planned it in the first 45 minutes. We also deservedly took the lead. We embraced the mentality that was required today. But things looked very different in the second half. Union upped the pressure from the beginning and beat us with their mentality. Two simple set-pieces cannot be allowed to happen to like that; we need to defend that harder and more intensively. The lead disappeared just like that. We have only ourselves to blame for the defeat. We did not relieve the pressure on ourselves anywhere near enough and no longer played with joy, so with that in mind it was a deserved victory for Union Berlin. We need to put an end to these mistakes as quickly as possible."

Urs Fischer (Union Berlin coach): "It was a game of two halves. We did not show the desire that you need in the tackle in the Bundesliga from the beginning. It was therefore a deserved lead for Hoffenheim. However, we did have one or two opportunities. After the break, the lads played the way we wanted to from the beginning. The team showed great spirit and deservedly won in my eyes."