“We will stay very much in touch with ourselves.”

With Fraser, we want to wait and see how he’s doing over the two days leading up to the game and then see what the weekend brings. He’s not a definite no-show, but he’s also not a guaranteed starter or even a sure bet for the squad. He’s fit again, and there’s no point in beating around the bush about how important Fraser is for us. But I can’t say anything definitive about it yet.

We have three top centre-backs in Paddy, Matej, and Vuko. Now Vuko is replacing Paddy. We’re happy when Paddy returns because he plays an incredibly stable and important role in our team. But my confidence in Vuko remains completely unbroken. The fact that we’re able to replace Paddy like-for-like with Vuko speaks volumes about Paul Fernie’s squad planning. This is one of the personnel decisions that allows me, as a coach, to sleep soundly at night.

There’s no denying that Kiel isn’t where they want to be in the standings, or where they belong. With Tim Walter, they now have a new coach who represents a specific style of football. I’m really looking forward to getting to know him. He has an exciting approach to the game. In the match against Elversberg, it was already clear that, unlike how he used to play with his teams, he pressed much more aggressively and demanded a lot more intensity. However, when in possession, you could also see elements that he had implemented at his previous clubs – for example, positional changes and a courageous attacking style.

Keeping a team like Elversberg at 46.5 percent possession, as Kiel did last weekend, isn’t easy. Tim Walter is an exciting coach, coupled with a team whose fundamental quality doesn’t reflect their current position. Nevertheless, this is the week in which I can say the least about Kiel’s team, because we only have this one game in the context of Tim Walter and Holstein Kiel. Therefore, we’ll focus on ourselves. We have our routines and a clear system. These should give us a good chance of winning this home game. Holstein Kiel is a tough opponent that awaits us on Saturday.

Sunshine over the Bölle, a faint smell of bratwurst in the air: I can certainly appreciate that. There are worse times to play football (grins). Whether the floodlights are on or not: external factors shouldn’t influence a footballer. Nevertheless, being chosen so frequently for the 8:30pm match says something about the appeal we’ve developed over the season and the attractiveness of our games. Many of our matches have been thrilling and fast-paced. That’s why we’re delighted; it’s also a compliment to our location.

With a 13-game unbeaten streak, it’s only natural that you’ll lose sometimes. We discussed it in the locker room in Dresden on Friday evening and put the game behind us. We learned from it how to balance Akiyama, Schmidt, and Klefisch, who were playing together for the first time, both in possession and defensively. In the four or five minutes before halftime, our game management wasn’t good; we got a bit frantic. We also gained a very good understanding of Raoul Petretta, who had a good first half. Then we prepared very well for Saturday’s game. Our full focus this week was on Kiel. The team was already super focused at the start of the week. We trained very well and are looking forward to our home game.