André Schürrle declared there were some positive elements in BVB's first-half performance in Stuttgart as he fielded questions from BVBtotal!. The second period, however, was very frustrating, Schürrle said, adding: "We can't allow a performance like that in our current situation."

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André, despite making your first start of the season, I'm guessing you're not feeling too good right now…
"A match like that is very frustrating. After we virtually handed them the opener on a plate, we actually performed relatively well in the opening period. We had control, played good football, moved the ball around and got close to their goal. It was a shame that we didn't manage to get more than one goal. The second half was very annoying. We can't allow a performance like that in our current situation. We made too many mistakes and conceded one counter after another. It was almost harakiri stuff. The game was end to end, without a midfield. As Borussia Dortmund, one of the top teams, we cannot allow that. Every team has a chance against us if we play like that."

You conceded very early goals at the beginning of each half. What goes through your head at moments like that?
"It was absolutely terrible timing from our point of view. Conceding both goals in the opening stages is a tough one to swallow. We gave it our all and had chances, I myself had a good opportunity that might have gone in. It's extremely annoying, because we battled out there. We wanted more and deserved more. Nonetheless, we gave away far too many chances."

"There were some good elements"

Give us your take on the penalty…
"I wanted to take responsibility, I wanted to take the penalty and I missed it. Fortunately Milli was in the right position to fire home the rebound. That's very fortunate for me, I'm still very annoyed I didn't convert it myself. But I would've been even more annoyed if it hadn't ended up in the back of the net at all. I'm happy he scored, just a shame it counted for nothing."

You're currently going through a rough patch. What do you now need to clear your heads? You've got Tottenham on Tuesday, then the derby coming up…
"We simply need to stick together as a team. We need to encourage each other and remain focused. It was not all bad against Stuttgart. There were some good elements out there and good spells in the game too. We just need to take that on board. At some point we'll manage to turn things around and pick up victories again. Then lots of things will get easier for us." (djg)

BVB total! video: Interview with André Schürrle