Hoffenheim fell to a 3-1 defeat away to SC Paderborn in the Bundesliga on Saturday. A poor first-half performance set the tone for TSG's third league loss in four matches this season.
Santiago Castaneda opened the scoring for the hosts in the 29th minute. Stefano Marino doubled the advantage just before half-time. Adam Daghim gave Hoffenheim hope with a goal in the 50th minute, but Steffen Tigges headed home in the 69th to seal a 3-1 victory for Paderborn.
Post-Match Reaction
Head coach Christian Ilzer was blunt in his assessment. "That was not a good performance at all in the first half," he said after the final whistle. Goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, who had earlier denied Marino, added tersely: "That's not enough today either." He demanded more commitment from the entire squad to break out of the negative run.
The result leaves Hoffenheim in 14th place in the Bundesliga standings with just three points from four games. Their recent form reads one win and four losses from the last five competitive matches. Top scorer Adam Daghim netted his second goal of the campaign, but the defence has now conceded ten times. Individual player performance data is available in our detailed stats section.
Attention now turns to the next fixture. On October 10th, TSG host direct rivals Hamburger SV, who currently sit 16th. A win at the PreZero Arena is urgently needed to spark a recovery.
Christian Ilzer's side must find stability quickly to avoid being dragged deeper into a relegation battle. Their next chance to put things right comes in a fortnight against HSV.
This story first appeared at sports.yahoo.com
