Akpoguma: "We beat ourselves"

Anton Stach: "We unfortunately gifted them two goals and then it's difficult to come back against a team like that. We cannot reproach ourselves for our fighting spirit; we gave everything until the end. Much, much more was definitely possible. Tottenham have top individual players, of course, but we didn't defend their counter-attacks consistently in the first half – but we also had our own chances. If we'd scored another one before half-time, things would have been different. After it became 2-1, we were close, really applied pressure, chased them down and then conceded the goal for 3-1 too early. That hurt. With a bit more luck, we could have won today. Now we definitely want to finish well and win in Anderlecht."

Finn Becker: "We gave everything and put in a great effort, but didn't get our reward. The goals we conceded were far too simple, despite our great individual quality, and came at an unfortunate time. It's a shame and very bitter. There was more in it and we needed the points today. We didn't make enough of our chances, including my one shortly before the break. We have to be better there. It was a good performance today and we have to carry that over into the league. Tottenham hardly got out in the second half; that must give us confidence. A lot of situations went against us today."

Kevin Akpoguma: "We beat ourselves today. We communicated too late for the goal that made it 1-0. The goal for 2-0 is also very annoying, that cannot happen to us. We saw that something was possible. We got ourselves into situations, but the finishing wasn't quite right. It was much better in the second half; we came out well. We should've just kept going, but we lost our balance in the minutes that followed. That brought Tottenham back into the game. The goal that made it 3-1 was another gift for Tottenham, but we still kept going. It's hard for me to accept it. But it's our own fault. We've got tough opponents coming up, but we have to take the positives from the game: we looked good on the ball in particular."

Christian Ilzer: "It was the opening phase that set the game in a direction that we didn't want it to take. After 25 minutes, we showed that we can play really good football. Tottenham have top players and they took advantage of the situations that we gave them. We lacked consistency in our defending. But I saw a team with a very good mentality. We had many spells of pressure and left no stone unturned. It's a shame that we weren't rewarded for what was largely a very decent performance."

Ange Postecoglou (Tottenham Hotspur coach): "The performance today was unbelievable, especially in light of our situation. We played very well in the first period and could've perhaps even scored one or two more goals. TSG did very well in the second half, then we suffered a bit more. When Hoffenheim scored, Son's goal to make it 3-1 helped us. Nothing can be taken for granted at European level. I have to pay the team a big compliment."

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