Waldhof Mannheim welcomes Rot-Weiss Essen and is fighting against a negative trend. The fans are set to play an important role.

SV Waldhof Mannheim is looking to finally break the spell against Rot-Weiss Essen on Saturday, September 27, at 4:30 p.m. SVW is currently in a negative trend. “After three defeats in a row, it’s hard to get back on the pitch. We had two days off from training and analyzed the Aachen game. Then we started the training week, which went very, very well. You couldn’t tell that the guys had three losses in a row weighing on them,” said coach Luc Holtz at the press conference ahead of the game. Forward Samuel Albifade and midfielder Diego Michel are out, but center back Tim Sechelmann is back in the squad. A lot is coming together at the moment, said Holtz. In Aachen, Mannheim should not have conceded the 2-2 due to a previous wrong decision. Lars Gindorf then scored the 2-3 in injury time. Against RWE, the knot should finally be broken.

“I expect a hard-fought game. Every third division game is very competitive, and this one will be no different. Both teams are very evenly matched in terms of performance. We have to put all our energy into the game. We’ve recharged our batteries and will use that energy to get the three points,” Holtz promised confidently.

And the fans should also play their part. Mannheim’s coach had words of praise. “I take my hat off to what they have shown in recent games. I told the boys that they are world class. Unfortunately, we were unable to give back what we had hoped for. That’s why we now have to get the three points and give the fans what they deserve.”

He sees the key to this in the entire 90 minutes, during which his Waldhof players were still too inconsistent. “In some situations, we are ready for the Bundesliga, in others, we are ready for the district league. We have to become more consistent, then we will get the points again.”