Marcel Schmelzer's analysis was unsparing, even though he did not go into specifics. "We need to have a long, hard look at ourselves as a team" said the BVB captain in an interview for BVBtotal! and added straight after: "We need to stay calm, and come through this together." 

Why were you unable to get into the game today as you all might have hoped you would?
"It is exactly that question that we need to ask ourselves, and we must also begin to analyse the match at the same time. We will get started with that process during the journey home, and continue tomorrow in training."

Roman Bürki has just said that defending begins upfield. Why did things not work out as they should have done in defence today?
"I completely agree with Roman there. That is an aspect of the game that everyone should have a general understanding of. It is easy to lay the blame at the defenders' and the goalkeeper's door. In the modern game, the defensive work begins earlier in offensive positions. The converse is also true. When we score goals, that also begins with our build up play from the back. That's why we need to look at ourselves as a team and not attribute this to individual players."

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"The fans will spur us on"

A series of four consecutive away games has now come to an end. There now come two home matches, one against APOEL, the other against the Bavarians. What do you need to change to ensure that both games end successfully?
"That's not something I would say out loud in public. We need to speak about that internally. What is important is that we stay calm in and around the club and not rush into quick-fixes at any cost. We need to analyse things and keep our cool. It is precisely these two coming games that we need to use, our "final" in the Champions League and the contest against Bayern. Our fans will be well up for it, and they will spur us on. That's is exactly what we need. We need to come through this together."   (djg)

Neues BVB total!-Video: The opinions after the game against Hanover