The 1. FC Köln has made up for a 0:2 in the derby against Leverkusen. Anthony Modeste was happy with the point after the final whistle, but coach Steffen Baumgart was annoyed.
“When you are 0-2 down and play 2-2, then you have to be satisfied,” Baumgart said on “DAZN”, but also pointed out that they should not have fallen behind in the first place. “We put the first two things in front,” the 49-year-old noted, complaining about “too easy mistakes” and that his players “developed their own ideas” and didn’t stick to the tactics given out: “When you say ‘We don’t want to play through the centre’ and then you play through the centre, sometimes it gets difficult.”
Baumgart was clear that things could well have gone differently against one of the best counter-attacking teams in the league. “We also had the odd bit where we were lucky,” noted the coach, who may have been pleased that Bayer had missed their own counter-attacking chances. Or as Jonas Hector put it. “It’s always a bit of a game on a razor’s edge because Leverkusen have this counter-attacking game. They didn’t play it as well as they can. “
Baumgart also sees positive things
However, the captain was also aware of the wobbles in half one. “We made the mistakes in the first half in the playing area,” the 31-year-old noted, while also pointing out that Cologne had improved towards the end of the first half and in the second. “That’s why we got it done.”
How did the increase come about? Baumgart had an answer to that. “I asked them to have courage and not to wet their trousers. Just play clear,” the coach revealed, noting, “The boys are distinguished by the fact that they don’t give up. That’s very positive.”
Anthony Modeste was also particularly happy about the 2:2, who made up for his capital mistake immediately before the 0:1 by Patrik Schick (15th) with his brace. “I gave away a goal, that was my fault,” the attacker admitted and was all the more pleased about the “strong second half” and the resulting 2:2. “We turned the game around, that is our strength. This is our living room and you can’t win here so easily.” Indeed, no one has managed that in the current Bundesliga season.