euphoria in Essen. We talk about the derby victory at MSV, the prospects in the coming weeks and where the team needs to improve despite the victories in winter in our RWE talk show.

What a crazy turnaround at Rot-Weiss Essen. It was just 22 days ago that the mood in the 3rd division threatened to turn, following the disastrous 5-0 defeat at Hafenstraße to SC Verl and the preceding 4-0 loss at newly promoted Unterhaching.

The result was the dismissal of captain Felix Bastians, and it was clear that the decision would put the club at risk, but it has been worth it so far.

Now, three weeks and three wins later, the fans are embracing each other, no one is talking about Bastians anymore, and the team has earned nine points, including two away wins in the derby against BVB II and MSV. Almost 17,000 people from Essen accompanied the team to the two away games.

And suddenly RWE is in fourth place in League Three and there are bound to be one or two people who have already looked up the dates of the relegation play-offs against the third-last team in the Bundesliga 2 after the season, just in case.

This is one of the topics discussed in the RWE talk show “Vonne Hafenstraße” with moderator Martin Herms and the two Funke editors Ralf Wilhelm and Christian Brausch.

And lo and behold: not everyone agrees in the RWE talk. While Brausch says: “It would be a miracle if Red-White Essen were to finish in one of the top three places at the end of the season. The current success is a snapshot, but the squad is not yet ready to sustainably intervene in the promotion battle.” Wilhelm disagrees: “RWE is on a roll, it’s entirely possible that Esse will be up there with the leaders until the end.”

One thing is certain: the current victories are helping to calm the club. This is necessary after the coach was criticized at the end of last season, then the numbers were bad and a million-dollar loss was presented.

Now, instead of a lot of fires to put out, the people in charge have the calm they need to get the ship back on course. Starting with one or two additions to the squad in the winter, where everyone agrees: there should be two new players in the winter.