“We need conviction”

We have carefully analysed the duel with Fortuna Düsseldorf. The course of the game could have brought a different result. There were different phases in the game. But it was a lot about conviction – when the opponent has the ball, but also even in the front third. We work and process a lot of things correctly. But we struggled to build solidity in and around the box. There is still room for improvement. We not only talked about this, but also tried to adjust it during training. Without being anything rosy, we also noticed a lot of positive things. Defensively, everyone worked well and our structure was variable against the ball.

Paderborn has a different basic structure than Fortuna Düsseldorf. It will be a completely different game. They actually play a 3-5-2 system, but are very variable, especially in attack. They are moving a lot up front, with a lot of castling. This can make things look wild on the pitch.

We need conviction. And we want to make up for the result from the Fortuna game. We showed a lot of good things there that should make us strong on our path. Of course you need points, but you also need the conviction that a lot of what we did against Düsseldorf wasn’t bad.

I didn’t get any tips from Kai, and I won’t do that either. He should concentrate on his game. Kai did really well in the first game.

The crowd’s reaction to Otto’s sending off was outstanding. As well as the reaction of his teammates. This also shows that all players – including the newcomers – already show a great deal of identification with the club and want to live this identification. I think it’s a shame that Otto is now out. Because he’s a bit out of rhythm with his game. But he won’t fall into the abyss. He’s too keen on football for that, which we noticed again in training this week.