Hoeneß: "He just has to take his pain on the pitch"
VfB Stuttgart missed out on their first title, with coach Sebastian Hoeneß calling it an "unnecessary" defeat. He was particularly annoyed by the way the team fell to a 2-0 deficit at one point.
IMAGO/Sportfoto Rudel
When Bayern newcomer Luis Diaz scored his debut goal for the German record champions in the 77th minute, VfB Stuttgart was down to ten men. Shortly before, a challenge had broken out on the touchline between Stuttgart international Jamie Leweling and Bayern defender Sacha Boey. Leweling fell and remained lying on the ground with a pained expression on his face, but the game continued.
Hoeneß didn't blame Boey or referee Harm Osmers. "No, there's nothing wrong," he said after the match on the Sky microphone. "It was a blow from pressure, he hit his knee on the medial ligament, which must have hurt." But he didn't see a foul.
Rather, he would have preferred more cleverness from Leweling in the situation. "It may be unpopular," Hoeneß began, "but then he just has to feel his pain on the pitch and not two meters away." Because in such cases, either the crowd reacts, the opponent often plays the ball out of bounds, or the referee has the opportunity to interrupt the game. "These are small things that you might not like to hear, but they're simply part of the game. A lot is at stake; we have to become more mature, more grown-up in such situations."
Hoeneß: "This is overconfidence"A process that his entire team still has to go through. Despite being down a man, VfB pressed Bayern hard before going down 2-0. "We can't let ourselves go in this situation," Hoeneß criticized. "We can't go down against Bayern with one man down. That's overconfidence."
Overconfidence, which ultimately led to a preliminary decision. The fact that apparently no one on the pitch gave the order to drop further is something Hoeneß will discuss "internally" in the coming days. "I don't want to name any names now," said the VfB coach, "but of course we have a common thread."
Despite all his frustration over the 2-0 defeat, Hoeneß saw his team's good performance, except for the 20 minutes after kickoff, and an "unnecessary" defeat. "Bayern had to play to their limits; that was the least we wanted to achieve," he concluded.
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