Höwedes: It’s in our hands
The bitterly disappointing defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt was still occupying Schalke minds a few days later. In this interview with schalke04.com captain Benedikt Höwedes looks back at the game before turning his attention to Sunday’s visit to the VELTINS Arena of Hamburg SV.
Interviewer: Benedikt Höwedes, I’m sure you were very annoyed by the 1-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt. Has the sense of frustration worn off yet?
Benni: We lost an important game so I was indeed extremely disappointed and angry. It took me a while to get over it
Interviewer: What was the main reason for the loss?
Benni: Obviously it wasn’t our best performance. Having said that, we created several clear-cut chances but we weren’t clinical enough in front of goal. These are chances you simply have to take if you want to qualify for the Champions League.
Interviewer: Creating lots of chances is a positive, generally speaking.
Benni: All in all, the fact we’re creating so many opportunities certainly is a positive. I’d worry more if we weren’t creating any at all. It’s clear we’ve made progress in recent weeks. The players have been working very hard. But it’s annoying when you don’t make proper use of your chances and then make decisive errors that end in us conceding a goal. We’re punishing ourselves by doing that. If we become more clinical in front of goal we’ll have taken a big step forward and we’ll start winning games again.
Interviewer: Schalke were able to hang on to fourth place in spite of the defeat and on Sunday you come up against HSV.
Benni: We were a bit lucky because Freiburg lost on Sunday as well. We stayed in fourth place and it’s up to us to defend it, and to do that we’ll have to get three points against Hamburg at the weekend. It’s in our own hands. I want to reach the Champions League play-off’s and I believe in our team.
Interviewer:How do you see Sunday’s opponents?
Benni: Hamburg definitely have quality up front and in attacking midfield but I also think they have their weaknesses, which we’ll be analysing this week. We lost the reverse fixture 3-1, but you have to say we messed that one up ourselves. With the boss we’ll look for a way to unlock the Hamburg defence on Sunday – and win the game.
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