Head coach Bruno Labbadia hailed his players for producing “a different kind of good performance” in the home win over Mainz. The Wolves struggled to find their rhythm in the final third but defended resolutely and conceded very few chances over the course of the 90 minutes. Labbadia was adamant his side deserved the victory after creating “the clearer opportunities” at the Volkswagen Arena, while Mainz coach Sandro Schwarz felt certain decisions went against his side in the build-up to the Wolves’ second goal.
Bruno Labbadia: “Mainz demanded a great deal from us. We weren’t as comfortable as we’d hoped after going 1-0 up. That wasn’t only down to us, even though we were already giving cheap balls away at that stage. It was also because Mainz kept their positional shape and did very well. We controlled the game more in the second half and kept the ball better. We made it 2-0 at the right time. Winning 3-0 is a great result but it doesn’t reflect what was a relatively even game. Having said that, we created the clearer opportunities in both halves. Overall it was a different kind of good performance, which is very important for our development.”
Sandro Schwarz: “We obviously got off to the worst start and fell behind after just four minutes because we didn’t get close enough to our opponents. We reacted very well to the goal, got the ball into some promising areas and our build-up play was good. In the second half we had the situation with the penalty - in my eyes, it was a 50-50 challenge and therefore not a clear error by the referee. VAR shouldn’t have got involved, which means it was clearly an incorrect decision. The game was over at 2-0, we didn’t stand a chance of getting a positive result after that. To concede the third goal from a set-piece is extremely frustrating. We’re obviously hurting after this result.”
