Ahead of Saturday’s game (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 plays 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 types of center forwards. I just want to emphasize once again that, as far as I’m concerned, the situation from the 1860 Munich game has no bearing on the Havelse game. I don’t need to prove that I might have bigger balls. Our full focus is on the game against TSV Havelse,” emphasized the RWE coach.

However, Koschinat makes no secret of the fact that, for a short time after the 1860 game, he could only shake his head in response to Marek Janssen’s public criticism of him.

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 mad at 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 you 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 the path he’s taken. 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 forward has made 14 appearances this season, scoring five goals. According to statistics, Janssen finds the back of the net every 64 minutes—a top mark in the Third Division!