“That’s what we want again now”

Nürnberg is having a very good season. They have maintained the style of play they established last year—playing with great aggression when out of possession, employing man-oriented high pressing, and utilising a 4-4-2 formation when defending in a deep block. They certainly have a few game-changers in their attack, even if Zoma is currently unavailable. They have been working with Miroslav Klose for some time now, and in my view, he has them playing a very attractive brand of football. At the same time, it is a fact that momentum has frequently been on their side this season. They have conceded significantly fewer goals than statistical models would have predicted, and they have also scored more goals than their underlying statistics would suggest. Furthermore, the way certain matches unfolded often played into their hands—though I say this without intending to diminish their achievements in any way.

I have great respect for their style of play and for the fact that they stick to it consistently. A tough task awaits us.

I don’t believe we will fundamentally depart from the path we’ve been on over the last few weeks when we face Nürnberg. Starting with the match against Bielefeld, we’ve managed to make better use of our spells in possession and create more from them—and that’s the path we want to continue on. We know that another tough challenge lies ahead. The five matches against St. Pauli, Elversberg, Magdeburg, Nürnberg, and Heidenheim—all within a very short span—represent a truly demanding schedule, just looking at the names of the opponents. But we showed last week that we are capable of getting results, and—while maintaining the utmost respect for Nürnberg—that is exactly what we aim to do again now.

First of all: I don’t believe that what happened in the recent match against Magdeburg was a mistake by Marcel Schuhen. That is an area of ​​the pitch he isn’t supposed to be defending. He tries to do everything he can in that situation, even if it ends up looking bad. In principle, however, there is a relatively clear division of responsibility regarding which player is tasked with defending which area.

It is true that we are the team with the highest number of individual errors leading to scoring chances or goals conceded—by a significant margin. We have analysed and examined this ourselves. That said, it’s not as simple as just saying, „Hey guys, please focus.“ The fact remains, however, that we need to cut these errors out. We have actually done a much better job of that in our recent matches. This is crucial, as it allows our fundamental organisation, our team structure, and our ability to win duels or create scoring opportunities to take center stage—ensuring we don’t have to keep talking about isolated moments that end up having such a major impact on the outcome of a game.

At the start of the season, we had major concerns because we were unable to stabilise our performances—and performance is the foundation for everything. We’ve had to take a somewhat different path than what we might have initially envisioned at the beginning of the season. Now, however—with the exception of the Karlsruhe match—we feel that, ever since the Bielefeld game, we have become increasingly consistent in delivering our performance on the pitch. At this stage of the season, that is what I’m looking at, and that is what matters to me. It means staying alert, giving absolutely everything in every single match, and leaving nothing in the tank. This league will remain tight, and in this league, nothing is ever handed to you for free.