It’s annoying that no goals were scored. The world champions lacked purpose in their play in their second group match of the European Championship in France. However, there were enjoyable aspects. For example, they kept a clean sheet against an offensively strong Poland team and gave them barely any chances to score. Benedikt Höwedes spoke about the 90 minutes against Lewandowski & Co. after the match in the Stade de France.
Question: Mr Höwedes, did the team want to play in a more controlled manner against Poland than they did against Ukraine?
Benedikt Höwedes: More controlled? In my opinion we didn’t play in an uncontrolled fashion against Ukraine, especially in the second half. Poland were very much looking to counter and Lewandowski held the ball up really well to allow the other attackers to join in from deep. We were warned against it and therefore tried to avoid letting them counter attack as much as possible. We were more cautious when going forwards because of this. Obviously we wanted to score but we were not purposeful enough today to get a goal.
Question: Why was that?
Höwedes: It’s difficult to put my finger on it. We didn’t have enough impetus and couldn’t find a way through. The last step, the final ball, that bit of luck – we were simply lacking them today.
Question: The team had 63 percent of possession What do you make of this?
Höwedes: Such statistics aren’t that meaningful and that doesn’t only go for us. I don’t really follow other teams’ results, however, when you see for example the match between England and Russia, you realise how little relevance possession has. Russia attacked with basically only long balls but that doesn’t matter if you are in the right place in the final minute to score the equaliser.
Question: You found yourself with the ball in a promising position in Poland’s box and you seemed annoyed that you couldn’t take advantage of it…
Höwedes: Yeah, it was disappointing. We had finally managed to get in behind a deep-set and organised defence but I unfortunately took a poor first touch. It meant that I wasted one of the few good chances we had.
Question: Did the team lose two points or win one with this draw?
Höwedes: It was important that we didn’t concede today, that we didn’t lose. Obviously, we would have preferred to have taken all three points and it’s disappointing that we didn’t manage that. I wouldn’t class it as losing two points. We are still top of the group and we are optimistic that we can win the final group match against Northern Ireland.
Question: How important would finishing top of the group be?
Höwedes: We would then face a third placed team from another group. If we progress as group winners we will have given ourselves a good position – that is our aim.
Question: How do you rate the Northern Irish?
Höwedes: We have respect for them. We are favourites but we will have to make sure that we turn up.
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It’s annoying that no goals were scored. The world champions lacked purpose in their play in their second group match of the European Championship in France. However, there were enjoyable aspects. For example, they kept a clean sheet against an offensively strong Poland team and gave them barely any chances to score. Benedikt Höwedes spoke about the 90 minutes against Lewandowski & Co. after the match in the Stade de France.
Question: Mr Höwedes, did the team want to play in a more controlled manner against Poland than they did against Ukraine?
Benedikt Höwedes: More controlled? In my opinion we didn’t play in an uncontrolled fashion against Ukraine, especially in the second half. Poland were very much looking to counter and Lewandowski held the ball up really well to allow the other attackers to join in from deep. We were warned against it and therefore tried to avoid letting them counter attack as much as possible. We were more cautious when going forwards because of this. Obviously we wanted to score but we were not purposeful enough today to get a goal.
Question: Why was that?
Höwedes: It’s difficult to put my finger on it. We didn’t have enough impetus and couldn’t find a way through. The last step, the final ball, that bit of luck – we were simply lacking them today.
Question: The team had 63 percent of possession What do you make of this?
Höwedes: Such statistics aren’t that meaningful and that doesn’t only go for us. I don’t really follow other teams’ results, however, when you see for example the match between England and Russia, you realise how little relevance possession has. Russia attacked with basically only long balls but that doesn’t matter if you are in the right place in the final minute to score the equaliser.
Question: You found yourself with the ball in a promising position in Poland’s box and you seemed annoyed that you couldn’t take advantage of it…
Höwedes: Yeah, it was disappointing. We had finally managed to get in behind a deep-set and organised defence but I unfortunately took a poor first touch. It meant that I wasted one of the few good chances we had.
Question: Did the team lose two points or win one with this draw?
Höwedes: It was important that we didn’t concede today, that we didn’t lose. Obviously, we would have preferred to have taken all three points and it’s disappointing that we didn’t manage that. I wouldn’t class it as losing two points. We are still top of the group and we are optimistic that we can win the final group match against Northern Ireland.
Question: How important would finishing top of the group be?
Höwedes: We would then face a third placed team from another group. If we progress as group winners we will have given ourselves a good position – that is our aim.
Question: How do you rate the Northern Irish?
Höwedes: We have respect for them. We are favourites but we will have to make sure that we turn up.
