A bad start for Rot-Weiss Essen: RWE go down in the first 45 minutes against Elversberg. Felix Bastians finds clear words.

And then the microphone at the press conference didn’t work either. No, his first competitive match as coach of Rot-Weiss Essen did not go according to plan for Christoph Dabrowski. RWE lost 1:5 (1:4) in front of 16,347 spectators against SV Elversberg and conceded “very, very easy” goals, as Dabrowski criticised.

“It felt like every shot was a goal for Elversberg at the start,” said Dabrowski. Hardly anything worked for RWE after kick-off. Cedric Harenbrock even missed a penalty in the eighth minute.

Two more goals against followed in the first half – 1:4 after 28 minutes. That sat. Things did not get any better after half-time. Semih Sahin even scored to make it 5:1 for the Saarlanders (82nd minute).

RWE will discuss the mistakes in peace. RWE veteran Felix Bastians was more explicit. After the game, he said in an interview with Magenta Sport: “That was just really bad from us. If we play like that, we won’t get any points in this league.”

According to Bastians, it wasn’t the effort that was to blame. Everyone wanted to play, said the former Bochum player. “We didn’t implement what we had set out to do.” The reporter then asked what could be expected from his team in the derby in Duisburg in a fortnight’ time: “A better performance than today. You can’t deny us the passion. But it just wasn’t good enough.”

MSV Duisburg also lost to kick off the new season – the Meiderich side conceded 1-0 at VfL Osnabrück on Friday evening. The derby on 5 August will be explosive, with a lot at stake for both Revier clubs on the second matchday already.