Eight games without a win and hardly any improvement in sight: FC Hansa Rostock has arrived at the perseverance slogans in the fight to stay in the 2nd Bundesliga. “We can’t stick our heads in the sand and say: We have to stop now. We have to keep going, we have to believe in it,” said captain Markus Kolke after the clear 0:3 (0:0) at SC Paderborn. “The defeat hurts, but you have to look ahead,” agreed midfielder Kevin Schmacher.
The ninth bankruptcy in the eleventh game in the second half of the season, the second change of coach this season and the leave of absence from sports director Martin Pieckenhagen are an expression of a catastrophic season for the last East German champions. “If you have the third coach on the bench and lose the head of sports, that’s anything but good. It’s restless and that’s not nice,” said CEO Robert Marien on ARD.
The appearance in Paderborn wasn’t really a benchmark, because in those 90 minutes, in addition to the obvious lack of suitability for the second division on the offensive throughout the season, there was also a good deal of bad luck. The hard red card against Lukas Scherff because of an emergency brake after just 27 minutes only pulled out referee Martin Petersen after video study. Previously, he had not rated Scherff’s duel against Florent Muslija from Paderborn as a foul.
Ultimately, the scene was the one that sent the decimated Hanseatic League back down the road of losers. “We defended well up to the red card and narrowed the spaces. The fact that the first shot on goal was possible is a broken neck,” confirmed Schumacher. His coach was equally disappointed. “With the first 100 percent chance, you’re one man down. That hurts,” said Alois Schwartz. So far, the 56-year-old has not lived up to his intended role as a rescuer in an emergency. In the first month of his tenure, the record with three defeats is sobering. “It’s bitter how everything is going at the moment. A yellow-red card in Magdeburg, four or five stupid minutes against Kiel and today in the 27th minute this red card. There’s a lot going on for a team,” Schwartz said defining moments of his tenure so far.
The hapless coach will be able to continue to stay in the class. “Alois Schwartz is incredibly experienced in the situation. We didn’t get him for nothing,” said CEO Marien.
The next opponent in the Ostsee-Stadion is SpVgg Greuther Fürth next Saturday. “We have to be a unit. We have to pull that off,” Kolke demanded. But how? You can hardly remember the last three in front of a home crowd: It dates from September 17 last year, when 1. FC Magdeburg was defeated 3-1.
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