Wuppertaler SV travel to Sportfreunde Lotte on Saturday (November 23, 2 p.m.). New coach Sebastian Tyrala is hoping for the first win in game three.
Sportfreunde Lotte vs. Wuppertaler SV: Nobody expected that on the 16th match day, the promoted team would be a whopping 17 points ahead of the ambitious WSV.
But WSV coach Sebastian Tyrala, who knows the Sportfreunde very well from last season as the Türkspor coach, says: “It doesn’t surprise me that they are up there. They already had a great team last season and were able to strengthen it again. When I think of players like Andreas Wiegel, Leon Demaj or Kamer Krasniqi, they are really making a statement in the regional league.”
Duisburg, Oberhausen, Lotte: the first three games as WSV coach are also a statement for Tyrala. After the 2-1 defeat to MSV and the 3-0 exit in the cup against RWO, Tyrala is now hoping for a “dirty 1-0 win” in Lotte.
“We’re going through a difficult phase. But it makes no sense at all to just lash out at the boys. We can only get out of it together. We have to move even closer together and we are doing that. In Wuppertal, the pitches are now closed and we had to convert our final training session into a fitness and coordination session. But maybe that’s the key now. Sometimes less is more. I’m excited to see how the guys perform in Lotte,” says Tyrala, adding: ‘Commitment and will are the prerequisites. If that’s there, then we saw what’s possible against MSV. But a few days later we also saw what happened in Oberhausen when the basics aren’t there.’ With Levin Müller, Vincent Gembalies, Pedro Cejas and Timo Bornemann (all injured), Tyrala has to do without four important players. Fabian Lübbers, coach of Sportfreunde Lotte, has the following injury concerns: Fabian Stangheiser (ankle), Fabian Graner (knee) and Fabian Stangheiser (ankle).
With Levin Müller, Vincent Gembalies, Pedro Cejas and Timo Bornemann (all injured), Tyrala has to do without four important players.
Fabian Lübbers, coach of Sportfreunde Lotte, meanwhile, Andreas Wiegel and Lars Spit are not available due to injury. Even though WSV is currently in a relegation place, Lübbers does not want to underestimate the Bergisch team under any circumstances.
Lübbers: “Wuppertaler SV is an absolutely traditional club, so everyone has to be fully motivated, especially at Lotter Kreuz. After the victories in Dortmund and Mönchengladbach, the boys are very confident, and rightly so. We now have three more games in this calendar year in which we want to give our all.”
Wuppertal’s opponents in 2024 are Lotte, Gütersloh and Türkspor. Then there will be an analysis and, in the best case, a training camp in January. “It would be ideal for the new coach to have the team together for a week in the winter. We are working on a solution and hoping for benefactors,” Gaetano Manno recently told Forecasting.
Tyrala would also be happy with a training camp – except if he had to choose between a training camp and a winter reinforcement: “Then I would stay in Wuppertal and take on a player I’ve been wanting,” he emphasizes.