“Team has good and healthy self-confidence”

Of course the victory in Dresden gave us a mental boost. It was an emotional milestone. It was a game that showed many facets on an emotional level that had been lost in Darmstadt for a long time: overcoming resistance and dealing with setbacks. An important aspect for us was that we were the physically stronger team at the end.

Coupled with the relatively stable development of the last few weeks overall, there is a feeling of security in the team and belief in their own strength. Nevertheless, the boys have a high level of self-criticism, but also the greed to continue delivering results and developing themselves further. The team is positively encouraged and has good and healthy self-confidence. But she also knows that we have to fight hard in every game to make the duels successful. I like the mix of confidence in yourself and the hunger to be successful.

On Thursday and Friday the focus was on regeneration. Also big praise to the staff and the club, who have created optimal conditions here. I am sure that we will be in very good condition again in Fürth. Because we were also able to use the full breadth of our squad in Dresden. In addition, Luca and Oscar are two players with a certain freshness. That’s why I’m positive that we can physically deliver our performance. The possibilities for regeneration and shortening travel time were important topics in this English week. The club approached this very professionally. We have created all the conditions so that the boys can be in top shape on the pitch on Saturday.

Fürth has had a surprising change of coach. They’ve changed the way they do things a bit. Under Alexander Zorniger, the team was all about pressing and switching. They’re trying to adjust this a little bit right now. I can’t say much about the basic order as there is no clear picture. We are preparing for all systems. We certainly also have to prepare for the fact that we will have to react during the game in our positional play and defensive behavior. Fürth has exceptional players in their ranks with Hrgota and Green, who represent enormous quality in the second division. Since it’s not a game in which we can specifically adapt to the opponent because they’re currently not that clear, it’s even more important that we act based on belief in our own strength.

Despite all the positive developments, which are largely reflected in the results, we are still by no means in a relaxed situation. Accordingly, we want to keep up the points in order to create a certain distance from the unpleasant regions of the table. So the game against Fürth is of course an important game.

Anyone who conceded two goals in Dresden did not defend perfectly. That is clear. We have to find a way to defend that suits our style of play. Little by little we have to develop how we behave after losing the ball. This is a big issue for us because we want to have the ball a lot and the opponents like Ulm and Dresden also give us the ball a lot. Overall, on average, we have allowed significantly fewer big chances for our opponents in the last few weeks. We are on a path of development.

Compared to the chances we create, we don’t score enough goals. Even if that sounds strange given our goal tally. This is a training topic that we continue to work on. We are working on how we want to play out certain situations. We can be much clearer, especially when it comes to the topic of half chances. We need clear processes in the final third. We are working with our young strikers to ensure that they don’t have to think about it at the moment of finishing. You have to know from which positions you want to finish and how. In training, the focus is on a mix of repetitions and game-like forms of exercise.