„Anything else makes no sense“

There are four days between tomorrow’s game and Magdeburg. That’s why Magdeburg isn’t even on my mind. Just because the situation in the league is a bit different now than it has been for the last two years, I’m not going to abandon my principles. And those principles are: take each game as it comes and approach it one game at a time.

The cup is an incredibly exciting competition. And with everything we do tomorrow evening, we’re not looking at what’s happening on Saturday. We’ll assess the situation after the game on Wednesday morning and then prepare for Saturday. But until then, only Elversberg and the cup matter. We want to advance to the next round, because anything else is pointless. Otherwise, there’s no point in even participating in the cup.

First of all, I’m delighted for SV Elversberg that their consistently good work over the past few years is being rewarded. Analysing Elversberg’s style of play, they’ve remained true to their approach from last season. The squad already possessed quality back then. After their promotion to the Bundesliga, they further strengthened their ranks with one or two quality players.

However, their fundamental approach has remained unchanged: they continue to play with a very high press and try to play their way out of the back, often with a strong build-up play through the goalkeeper. They try to exploit the space on both flanks, frequently asymmetrically, and use Petkov’s pace to reach the final line. Accordingly, this is the Elversberg team we’ve known for the last two years. The last two matches against them, in particular, were very high-quality, and we hope to deliver a similarly high-quality performance on Tuesday.

You have to realistically assess the possibilities. This game is about creating the highest possible probability of winning. And that’s the beauty of the cup: there’s this one game, and after that it’s either over or it continues. Therefore, we’ll do exactly what gives us the greatest chance of winning. However, I also believe that, for example, it’s not a good idea to just sit deep, especially given the attacking quality Elversberg has shown recently. They have players like Futkeu, who feels very comfortable in the box and certainly gives us reasons to ensure they don’t get into our box too often.

But above all, it’s crucial that we’re courageous with the ball. That’s absolutely essential, regardless of our defensive approach. Currently, and also in the coming weeks, it will be absolutely key that we dare to play bold football with the ball. We know we have to take further steps in this direction. But that will certainly be part of our strategy for tomorrow.

In my opinion, the most important thing, especially in the early rounds and particularly in the first round where many teams stumble, is to have absolute focus and the will to win the game at all costs. You have to put yourself in the right focus and not wait for the stadium or anything else to create that focus. Otherwise, what distinguishes cup teams is that they enjoy the all-or-nothing nature of the competition. And I hope that we have that again this year.

In the past two years, we’ve always had good experiences in the cup. Unfortunately, we were twice unluckily knocked out in the third round, both times narrowly against established Bundesliga teams. I hope that we can write a few more stories this year.