„It’s something special to play on a Saturday night“

We focused a lot on football training during the first week because we decided against playing a friendly match. Last week, we had a particularly strong session on Thursday, which really shows the team’s spirit. They’re training at their limit, regardless of whether there’s a game at the weekend or not. The players then had the weekend off. The coaching staff also had time off, but they used it to prepare for the winter training camp, running plans, and so on. This week we’ve been working very hard. The first two days were very physical, and today we’re starting our tactical preparations for Fürth.

Fabian Nürnberger is a strong contender for the squad and has been training superbly. He hasn’t had any setbacks in his rehab. I wouldn’t rule out him being a starter, but Fabian Holland has been doing very well in recent weeks.

Matej Maglica remains doubtful. We’ll try him out in tomorrow’s final training session and then decide. It will either be against Fürth or Elversberg, but it won’t be long before he’s available.

Isac Lidberg played the full 90 minutes for Sweden for the first time and is slowly establishing himself in the starting lineup, despite the abundance of top strikers Sweden has. He’s doing very well, and we can confirm that after the initial examinations. Therefore, he will start against Fürth.

Djanga won’t arrive until tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, there’s no other way. Consequently, he’s very unlikely to be available for the match, as he’ll only arrive about 24 hours before kickoff. That’s the issue with international players from overseas. But we’re not complaining; other clubs have the same situation.

I can only speak positively about his development. Hiro was technically sound on the ball and extremely intelligent on the pitch from day one. He integrated into the team at breakneck speed, despite not having the opportunity to communicate naturally through language. He’s a very open and inquisitive guy. He’s increasingly managing to combine the physical attributes you need in Germany with his technical skills. That’s an extraordinary development. He’s matured into an absolute regular starter in a very short time.

We’re really looking forward to it. Playing on a Saturday night is something special. It’s the only match in German professional football that takes place at that time. Whether that has anything to do with its increased prestige, I don’t know. We get on the bus with great excitement on Saturday nights and drive to the Böllenfalltor stadium. We think it’s great, we love the atmosphere. With Schalke in the cup and then Karlsruhe in two weeks, it’s our fourth consecutive home game on a Saturday night. You can get used to it, it’s fun.

This is a team that started the season playing with a clear system. They delivered some incredibly spectacular performances. Towards the end of this initial phase, they couldn’t maintain that consistency and suffered some heavy defeats. Then they changed their system. In recent matches, they’ve been playing with a back three and are now achieving significantly better results. They won very late against Münster, but deservedly so.

They have a style of play that defends aggressively and quickly engages in man-to-man challenges. Offensively, they also possess a lot of individual quality. They often attack with direct, quick runs in behind. With Futkeu, Hrgota, and Klaus, they have at least three players who can decide a game on their own. Therefore, they are difficult to assess. However, their performance is clearly trending upwards.

I expect us to have more possession, but I have great respect for their individual quality. I believe Thomas Kleine has drawn the right conclusions from the recent matches. We are very wary and have great respect for them.