“Pushing through our game with all its different facets”

It will be a very exciting game because Paderborn is a team that has an exciting footballing approach. They are very strong in positional play with the ball. They have different variations in how they want to occupy the spaces. So just taking the ball away from them will be a challenge. They actually react more from space against the ball and direct the opponent to one side. But I don’t want to commit myself, Lukas comes up with a special plan every now and then (grins). They also have exciting new additions, with whom they have further increased the quality of the squad. Tactically it will definitely be a very exciting game. On the other hand, I don’t know whether it will be a lively game with a lot of back and forth. That depends on if and when the goals are scored and how quickly the game becomes open. Preparing for the game was one of the things I enjoyed the most because we can expect a high tactical level on Sunday.

Our idea and our aim is to completely understand how the respective opponent wants to play football. But we always want to push through our game – with its different facets. And on one game day you need one more facet and then another. We prepare the team for that. I don’t see us deviating completely from our plan. It’s about finding the moments in the game in the opponent’s basic orientation so that we can use them offensively and defensively. Basically, we want to play dominant, targeted and structured possession football against Paderborn in search of fast-paced actions. The question is how to organise it. This varies from game to game.

A first game like this after the break is always something special, especially at home. We want to continue on the path we have taken at home in the last few weeks and months. From the outside, people don’t know exactly what to do with us. We are currently neither in a direct relegation battle nor in a direct promotion race. This allows us to concentrate even more on our performance, which we want to make more consistent. Everyone would have signed our current situation with a kiss at the beginning of October.

As a club of our size, you have to recognise situations in which there are opportunities that normally wouldn’t have been there. For years, Jean-Paul has performed at a level that would probably never have been conceivable even for a first division team, Darmstadt 98. Through Paul Fernie and I’s personal network, we got the hint that he wanted to prove himself and was ready to return to professional football. He has a lot of sympathy for our game idea. League membership and one or two financial issues are not that relevant for him at the moment. We then had very good conversations. He is able to play all central positions in midfield. And we all see it as a very big opportunity. We want to help him get back to his level. If we can do that, we will have an outstanding player for Darmstadt 98. When it comes to the answer to the question of when it will be fully available to us, I don’t want to commit myself.