Ahead of Saturday’s match (January 24, 2 p.m.) against TSV Havelse, one topic dominated the week at Rot-Weiss Essen: Marek Janssen’s interview after the 1860 game.

Rot-Weiss Essen faces TSV Havelse on Saturday. Uwe Koschinat wouldn’t reveal whether Marek Janssen will be in the starting lineup.

“I could, but I won’t (laughs). We have different center-forward profiles. I just want to emphasize once again that the situation from the 1860 Munich game has no bearing on the Havelse game for me. I don’t need to prove that I might have bigger balls. Our full focus is on the match against TSV Havelse,” emphasized the RWE coach.

However, Koschinat makes no secret of the fact that, following the 1860 match, he could only shake his head for a short time due to the public criticism directed at him by Marek Janssen.

He explained on Friday (January 23): “The fact is, there can be no two opinions on this. He violated an internal rule; he violated our code of conduct.” He also emphasized: “I’m angry with him and I love him for it. But there are things within the team that should be resolved internally.”

Koschinat also added: “I never tire of emphasizing that we need confident guys. Marek shouldn’t turn his heart into a pit of despair either. I praised him in the highest terms in front of the entire team for his journey. Nevertheless, what he did was a mistake. That should have been handled internally. But there’s no hard feelings between the player and me. In the end, I’m somewhat glad that a player coming from the Regional League has such ambitions. Once again: Everything is fine between Marek and me.”

It remains to be seen whether Koschinat will start Janssen against Havelse, as the player wanted and still wants. The 28-year-old striker has made 14 appearances this season, scoring five goals. According to statistics, Janssen finds the back of the net every 64 minutes—a top-tier figure in the third division!