“That’s what makes us stand out as a team.”

Basically, I like having a floodlit match at the Bölle at 8:30pm. It’s something special. It’s one of the most unique kick-off times in German football because no other match is being played at the same time. We’re really looking forward to it. The stadium is sold out for both home and away fans, and there’s a lot of emotion involved. The late defeat against Kaiserslautern in the first leg hurt. But looking back, it was perhaps one of the most important matches for us because we learned our lessons from it.

They show different faces when defending: sometimes they play very high and man-marking, sometimes they defend deep. Offensively, they try to get into the final third quickly and then deliberately exploit the individual quality of their players. Accordingly, the analysis doesn’t provide a clear picture. Their game is heavily reliant on one-on-one situations – which makes them extremely dangerous. That’s one of their keys to winning games, because they also possess this individual quality. I also see a Kaiserslautern team that has made a strong start to the second half of the season. They beat Hannover and should have won at Schalke. That underlines their quality. I’m also delighted to welcome Torsten here at the Bölle. There are many emotionally charged issues surrounding this match. Overall, I expect a very strong team. The signings of Rasmussen and Berisha, coupled with the summer transfers, have clearly emphasised 1. FC Kaiserslautern’s ambitions once again. The last two matches against them were away games, but we lost them. We have a lot of respect for what’s coming up. But thankfully, we’re playing at home tomorrow.

We recently played against Bochum, the most in-form team in the league, then against a very strong Nürnberg side, and also had an away game in Berlin. Our individual performance in the first half hour in Berlin wasn’t good. Nevertheless, I have great respect for the team for getting five points from these games. We’ve had a lot going on in recent weeks, with illnesses and injuries. That makes it all the more important that we’ve now had our first training week since mid-December that I can truly call a top-notch one. That’s exactly what we need. It might sound unusual, being unbeaten in ten games, but we haven’t really found our rhythm yet. We want to work on that now.

That’s what distinguishes us as a team, and for that, a huge compliment to the entire squad. We’re able to bounce back time and again, and that’s a great quality. Last season, we already emphasised the need for development. A football team isn’t just about tactics; it’s also about energy, robustness, and resilience. You can’t command that; it has to develop. We’ve tried to create the conditions that allow exactly that to happen. A functioning locker room, energy, and a shared spirit are more important to me than purely tactical aspects. I feel we have that right now, and that’s a very good feeling.

It was surprising that Niklas Schmidt was able to play the full 72 minutes. Anything is possible for him this weekend. Grayson is making a very good impression. He knows exactly what his role is here and that it’s also about his development. He had two good training sessions, is well-liked in the locker room, and is very hard-working. Raoul had to travel to Basel for personal reasons and therefore missed two sessions last weekend. We might give him another targeted training session to make him an option for the Düsseldorf game. That’s perfectly normal after a longer break. However, the signs he’s showing give me the feeling that he can be an immediate reinforcement.

We discovered something during Killian Corredor’s diagnosis two weeks ago – a huge compliment to our doctors, who also included Killian in their extended network of specialists. He’s been in rehabilitation training since last week and trained with the team again yesterday and the day before. This makes him a candidate for the squad on Saturday. I’m very pleased about this and hope that he’ll now be available to us regularly.