In the 41st minute of the Bundesliga opener between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Jonathan Tah rose to meet a cross and headed the ball over Foals keeper Yann Sommer but the narrowest of margins and the woodwork prevented him from scoring his first Bundesliga goal. More disappointment followed, as his team lost their opening Bundesliga match 2-1 to Gladbach.
In an interview with DFB.de the 20-year-old talked about the reasons for this defeat, his missed opportunity to score and the unfortunate goal conceded to give Gladbach the lead.
Question: Mr. Tah, how tough was the game against Gladbach?
Jonathan Tah: It was a really tough game, also due to the temperature. It was our first game of the season and it's always difficult to find your rhythm straight away. We didn't actually play all that bad. The goals we conceded were unfortunate and it's a shame that we didn't manage to at least take a point.
Question: You experienced an unfortunate sequence of events just before half time. First, the crossbar denies you your first Bundesliga goal and immediately afterwards you failed to clear the ball as Gladbach scored the opener...
Tah: Obviously it would've been great to score my first Bundesliga goal. In the following situation I didn't have luck on my side. Our opponent was able to execute a free-kick quickly and I wasn't able to drop back far enough in order to clear the ball. The ball glanced over my head and then unfortunately missed Ömer (Toprak) and Bernd (Leno) wasn't sure if he could leave his line or not. It was a tricky situation and Andre Hahn did well to score the goal. It was important for us that we were able to come back after that. It looked good for us at one point as we were closing in on taking a 2-1 lead. But in the end we conceded another unfortunate goal.
Question: Ömer Toprak and yourself were standing quite close to each other before the 1-0 opener. Was there a miss-communication or was it due to the fast execution of the free-kick?
Tah:Yes, it was because of the quick free-kick execution. But I also thought that I would be able to reach the ball. Like I said, it glanced over my head and after that I wasn't able to do anything else.
In the 41st minute of the Bundesliga opener between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Jonathan Tah rose to meet a cross and headed the ball over Foals keeper Yann Sommer but the narrowest of margins and the woodwork prevented him from scoring his first Bundesliga goal. More disappointment followed, as his team lost their opening Bundesliga match 2-1 to Gladbach.
In an interview with DFB.de the 20-year-old talked about the reasons for this defeat, his missed opportunity to score and the unfortunate goal conceded to give Gladbach the lead.
Question: Mr. Tah, how tough was the game against Gladbach?
Jonathan Tah: It was a really tough game, also due to the temperature. It was our first game of the season and it's always difficult to find your rhythm straight away. We didn't actually play all that bad. The goals we conceded were unfortunate and it's a shame that we didn't manage to at least take a point.
Question: You experienced an unfortunate sequence of events just before half time. First, the crossbar denies you your first Bundesliga goal and immediately afterwards you failed to clear the ball as Gladbach scored the opener...
Tah: Obviously it would've been great to score my first Bundesliga goal. In the following situation I didn't have luck on my side. Our opponent was able to execute a free-kick quickly and I wasn't able to drop back far enough in order to clear the ball. The ball glanced over my head and then unfortunately missed Ömer (Toprak) and Bernd (Leno) wasn't sure if he could leave his line or not. It was a tricky situation and Andre Hahn did well to score the goal. It was important for us that we were able to come back after that. It looked good for us at one point as we were closing in on taking a 2-1 lead. But in the end we conceded another unfortunate goal.
Question: Ömer Toprak and yourself were standing quite close to each other before the 1-0 opener. Was there a miss-communication or was it due to the fast execution of the free-kick?
Tah:Yes, it was because of the quick free-kick execution. But I also thought that I would be able to reach the ball. Like I said, it glanced over my head and after that I wasn't able to do anything else.
Question: Was it an advantage for Gladbach, as they've already played three competitive games before today?
Tah: It's possible. They've had two more competitive games than us in order to find their rhythm.
