Third division club Rot-Weiss Essen slipped to a relegation place on the twelfth matchday. This is how Christoph Dabrowski assesses the 4-0 defeat in Rostock.

“It was a bitter afternoon for us and the end of a bitter English week.” These were Christoph Dabrowski’s opening words after the game at the Ostseestadion.

The long trip to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ended in huge disappointment for Rot-Weiss Essen. RWE had wanted to make up ground in the battle against relegation in the 3rd division, but – after the 1:3 defeat against Verl – it suffered the next setback. The third division club lost clearly 0:4 at Hansa Rostock.

It was simply not enough in all areas of the team. Dabrowski was particularly annoyed about the defensive behavior. “We wanted to tackle man to man against the ball. That led to the spectators seeing a wild game in the first half. Because of this man orientation, we were often in defensive duels. Unfortunately, we didn’t defend well in a one-on-two situation on the wing when conceding our first goal. That’s the flaw we have to look at in our game this week. We concede too many goals and defend too carelessly,” emphasized the RWE coach.

In the second half, the game was open for a long time, but only because Jakob Golz made two brilliant saves. Once again, the RWE players were not close enough to their opponents in some situations. With the second Rostock goal in the 77th minute, the lid was on, after which Golz had to reach behind him twice more. “We disappointed our fans today. A 4-0 defeat is obviously extremely bitter,” Dabrowski admitted.

We are below our expectations in terms of points and we are aware of the precarious situation. Now we have to work hard to improve our situation as quickly as possible. That will be necessary.

Christoph Dabrowski.

The 46-year-old also looked straight ahead. On the next match day (November 2nd, 2 p.m.), third division promoted Energie Cottbus will be guests in Essen. RWE now has to show a reaction at Hafenstraße. The coach is also aware of this:

“We have a whole week of training ahead of us and are currently in a situation where we need stability, especially defensively. We will focus on that. We are below our expectations in terms of points and we are aware of the precarious situation. Now we have to work hard to improve our situation as quickly as possible. That will be necessary.”