Following the Reds’ defeat on Teesside, Head Coach, Gerhard Struber gave us his immediate reaction.
The Austrian boss cut a dejected figure on the touchline as he saw his side dominate proceedings for the second time in a few days only to go down to another soft goal from the opposition.
“I’m not disappointed by the performance,” Struber explained. “But I’m disappointed with the result. This is our big problem, we create for 60 minutes a very good game, we have everything under control, then after the goal it became a ping-pong game.
“On and off the ball in this game we had good situations but the result is the same and of course it leaves myself and the team very unhappy and frustrated.”
Defeat at the Riverside Stadium was tough on the players who more than matched their hosts for much of the evening in horrendous conditions.
Struber feels responsible for morale and lifting the players’ spirits.
“It’s a very difficult situation and the players they need much support from myself and my staff. We need to bring them back up. Because we need a similar performance or a little better but this time create the result that we need.”
It’s been so long without a victory now that the Head Coach believes the players are finding it difficult to rid themselves of bad habits.
“I think after the goal we had a mental kick in our brain and it was ping-pong. It wasn’t clear anymore, off the ball, the structure, but in the first half we had control and big chances, and even before they score we hit the ball against the crossbar.”
It’s been just a week since Gerhard Struber arrived and so he’s had little time to work with the players to this point, but he feels more aware of the task ahead.
He pointed to the players’ mentality and needing to reset their thinking.
“I knew this was a very, very big challenge.” He stated.
“But in this case it’s nor a technical or tactical situation. It’s a mental problem now.
“We must kick the mindset into the other direction now. This is the most important thing right now, ridding the negative mindset. We need to work towards being a winner. It’s all in the mind.”
