Alfred Johansson admitted red cards cost Motherwell in the Conference League play-off, but refused to point the finger of blame at Jake Girdwood-Reich, writes Scott Burns in Freiburg.
The Steelmen crashed out 7-2 on aggregate to Bundesliga big-hitters Freiburg. Johansson knows that Martin Moormann’s sending off in the first leg and Girdwood-Reich’s ordering off in the Europa Park Stadion had led to his side’s undoing.
Johansson: Mistakes happen
Johansson said: “No, you make mistakes. I make them, Jake makes them and Alex Paulsen makes mistakes.
“He’s calm and collected. He knows it’s not good to be sent off like that but I haven’t spoken to him or seen the situation so I’m not going to assess that. I haven’t seen it again so I can’t say much about that.
“It’s frustrating we did it at home and did it again now.
“If we are to compete with a club of this stature we need to be a better unit than them and that’s really difficult when you’re one guy less.
“I don’t think you have to talk much about it though. Martin knows and Jake knows now.
“You don’t have to point mistakes out all the time as a leader because people know when they have made mistakes.”
Sixty minutes of competition
They were 1-1 in the first leg before the sending off and were the same in Germany but then crashed 4-1 on the night with 10 men.
The Swede added: “We compete really well for sixty minutes and after that it becomes much more difficult once again then it’s about trying to protect as much as we can.
“Could we have done that better?
“Maybe in decisive actions in our box but they tried everything they had so all in all it was good for sixty then it was tough.
The first leg we played sixty minutes 11 v 11 this time it was almost sixty 11 v 11 and it’s 2-2 on aggregate so there’s a chance. When you go down to ten it’s more complicated.
“Freiburg was the better team and congratulations to them and to my players because they have done really well.”
The final scoreline could have been even heavier had it not been for the heroics of keeper Alex Paulsen. Johansson insisted he was proud of all his team over this European run.
Proud of the players
He claimed: “I don’t know if it’s a sore night. I bring so much good from this game.
“It was tough at the end. Alex’s performance is really strong and I can point at many others.
“Alex Lowry was strong once again, Joe Hodge the amount of sprint meters he put in was impressive, Knight-Lebel has grown through those two games defensively and on the ball.”
Motherwell are likely to face another UEFA fine after flares were set off in the away section before and during the game.
Johansson said: “We always want to have the atmosphere but we should always stick to the rules.
“I’m touched by what they were singing at the end. I feel when you have been here since yesterday you almost don’t deserve it.
“I’m extremely proud that I am with a club that has that passion and the commitment.
“They were clapping the team after the game with all the people travelling here. That’s all you want as a coach.”
