After first win: Wagner delivers a memorable press conference

After first win: Wagner delivers a memorable press conference Hannover celebrate their first win under Sandro Wagner against Dynamo Dresden. At the post-match press conference, however, the 96 coach remained distinctly reserved. The 38-year-old sat on the podium with his arms folded, noticeably aloof. Despite his first three points in the 2. Bundesliga, there was no sign of a celebratory mood. His decision to head straight down the tunnel after the final whistle had already raised questions, which Wagner answered dryly: "I needed to go to the toilet. That's one thing. And it would be important for you to focus on the players after the game, not on me." The relief of securing a first win, which lifted the Lower Saxony side to 12th place with eleven points from ten matches, seemed to leave Wagner entirely unmoved. "It didn't affect me before, and it doesn't affect me now. I try to stay focused on the football and develop the team," the coach stressed. Wagner had previously lost three of his four matches, including a DFB-Pokal exit. Despite numerous absences, however, he refused to look for excuses: "Ultimately, it doesn't matter how I feel. I never want to dwell on all our injured players or make excuses. I also want to set an example for the lads." As a leader, he said, it was crucial to lead from the front in turbulent times: "What the lads have noticed from day one is that I'm not afraid—of anything." Wagner did not, however, let one journalist's description of the first half as the worst of the entire season go unchallenged: "I don't want to discredit your perspective, but I don't see it that way. You're free to see it however you like, though." At least the opening ten minutes had been "decent" in many respects, he said. When another reporter asked him to explain in "two or three sentences" whether he was on the right track, the former professional retorted: "I'll use as many sentences as I like." A game should not be judged solely on the result, he said. Wagner had already told Sky that, in footballing terms, he had been much happier with the 1-1 draw against FC St. Pauli or the 2-0 cup defeat to Kaiserslautern than with the performance against Dresden: "Because football is a results business, everyone is now saying: Great! But it just wasn't great." This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.