“It’s damn serious”: Rani Khedira Raises the Alarm after Union Berlin’s Defeat to Holstein Kiel | OneFootball

Holstein Kiel moved off the bottom of the Bundesliga table yesterday with their first away win of the season at the expense of a lacklustre Union Berlin, captained by Rani Khedira.

Union manufactured 14 shots but just 3 on target as a single goal by Armin Gigovic proved the difference for Kiel in a tense and often dour display in Köpenick.

After the game, Union captain, Khedira faced the media and did not hold back in an open and honest interview.

We need to answer on the pitch

Union create few real chances as a resolute Kiel defence held firm for a memorable victory. Khedira said that Union need to be more decisive in front of goal.

“We had opportunities, even if we didn’t have any clear chances. If you get twelve corners in total, then you’re being proactive, you’re playing forward and you’re actually the better team.

“But we didn’t become decisive. In many 50:50 duels we couldn’t prevail, we didn’t get in front of the man. Each of us was greedy on the pitch, but we didn’t manage to win the duels in the box with the utmost determination.

“Yesterday we scored a hell of a lot of goals in training from crosses, I can’t explain why we didn’t get any real chances today. It wasn’t good enough.”

“We owe the fans”

“We wanted to perform better and leave the pitch with a win. We owed that to the fans. There were many 50/50 situations where we didn’t prevail. Today was a must-win game, but no game is easy in the league. We have to deliver, we have to get our points at home. It’s just the little things that we’re missing.

“It’s damn serious, and has been for weeks. Everyone is aware of the situation. After a good start to the season, we’ve slacked off a lot. Starting tomorrow, we have to pick ourselves up again and try to win in Frankfurt. We’re too cerebral at the moment.

“The best team won. We didn’t do enough. We had a lot of possession. This afternoon we didn’t deliver on our plans. We didn’t create enough in their box. We had a few chances but I think we didn’t do enough.

“Every week we are having similar discussions. We are not scoring enough and we weren’t at 100%. We have to want to play better, we are in a bad situation, we don’t have enough points, we have the quality and we will start again tomorrow. It’s not too late. We need more points and we have to focus on the next game, we need to improve in the next game.”

Legal defeats

On Friday, the DFB Federal Court ruled against Union in the lighter-throwing scandal against VfL Bochum and maintained the ruling that awarded the match to Bochum (1:1) in December as 0:2. At the time, a spectator had hit VfL goalkeeper Patrick Drewes on the head with a lighter. Union Berlin have since announced that they would appeal to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

However, Khedira is looking for a defiant reaction from his side.

“It’s even more important now [to perform]. That in the end it doesn’t matter whether the point is deducted from us or not, but that we want to deliver on our own with our quality in the games. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do that today.”

Union Berlin’s next opportunity to make-amends is against Eintracht Frankfurt next weekend, followed by the visit of FC Bayern Munich.

With just ten games left of the Bundesliga season, Union are moving in the wrong direction and need to turn things around soon if they are to avoid relegation.

GGFN | Oscar O’Mara