Rose reacts to frustrating draw in Berlin

Speaking after his sides 0-0 draw in Köpenick against Union Berlin, RB Leipzig head coach Marco Rose outlined his thoughts.

“Union did very well today. I take responsibility for the first half, we expected Union to play differently. With better ball control, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but we lacked structure in our counter-pressing, so we had to adjust. Right now, what we’re showing on the pitch is not great,” said Rose, who was not afraid to admit to the precarious situation that Leipzig find themselves in regarding their performances.

Die Roten Bullen had the chance to gain a real advantage over their European rivals this evening, after Stuttgart’s loss against Borussia Mönchengladbach, whilst Mainz fell on the road against Werder Bremen on Friday. 

Leipzig did move into the top four with a point, however, they were unable to fully capitalise on the errors of their rivals this weekend. 

Rose went on to say, “However, I have to credit my team for giving everything, keeping a clean sheet, and defending the point. But we lost too many balls and were imprecise. When we should have dribbled, we passed; when we passed, the passes weren’t clean.”

“When you have to make two substitutions at halftime and adjust your structure, the coach bears some responsibility for the result. With our ambitions, we need everyone at 100 per cent on matchday, and that wasn’t the case today.”

“Now, we have a full training week ahead, the squad will be stronger again, and there will be more internal competition. But we can properly assess this game and are happy to take the point with us.

After bowing out of the Champions League at the first hurdle, Leipzig’s focus now remains on the Bundesliga and potential success in the DFB-Pokal.

The club has what would be described as three ‘winable’ fixtures in St. Pauli, Augsburg and Heidenheim before their Pokal quarter-final against Wolfsburg at the end of the month. 

Rose will be looking for nine points across the next three, alongside a significant uptick in performance level after an inconsistent period for Leipzig across the course of the current campaign.