Rot-Weiss Essen hosts SV Wehen Wiesbaden on Sunday evening (February 1, 7:30 p.m., RevierSport live ticker). RWE is delivering results, yet there’s still criticism of Uwe Koschinat.
Rot-Weiss Essen has lost only three of 21 games this season, and with 41 goals scored, RWE ranks fourth in this statistic behind TSG Hoffenheim II (42), Energie Cottbus (45), and SC Verl (50). In the overall standings, Rot-Weiss Essen sits in 5th place—just two points behind league-leading MSV Duisburg.
And yet: Even after the 4-1 win over Havelse, criticism arose once again. On social media, many RWE fans take issue with the style of play favored by Uwe Koschinat. The fact that he has an average of over 2.0 points per game as the Red-Whites’ coach and has transformed RWE from a relegation candidate into a promotion contender is sometimes overlooked.
Ahead of Sunday’s match (February 1, 7:30 p.m., RevierSport live ticker) against SV Wehen Wiesbaden, Koschinat was asked how he deals with the criticism.
The 54-year-old coach’s response: “The great thing about this sport is that you can have different approaches and perspectives. That’s also perfectly legitimate. Last season, certain factors emerged that gave the team confidence. We’ve consistently managed to build on that. For me, progress isn’t defined solely by possession-based structures. We have the ability to be both solid and dangerous—we strike that balance exceptionally well. For a long time, the criticism was that such a good standing in the standings wasn’t possible with the high number of goals conceded. We’re proving the opposite.”
Time and again, the RWE coaches—even at their introductory press conferences—mention the term “Hafenstraße soccer.” Koschinat has little interest in discussing the interpretation of this term. He replies dryly: “Hafenstraße soccer is when we win 9 out of 10 games.”
Fans will therefore be hoping for a seventh home win in twelve games at the Hafenstraße Stadium on Sunday evening. That would put RWE on par with the leading teams, FC Energie Cottbus and MSV Duisburg, in the home standings. Another argument in favor of Koschinat’s style of play.