Third division side Rot-Weiss Essen are not playing consistently enough this season. One problem is their vulnerability on the defensive wings.

Once again, Rot-Weiss Essen had to make the long journey home empty-handed. RWE suffered an avoidable 1-2 defeat at Erzgebirge Aue. Aue had previously gone three home games without a win and did not look in great shape against Essen either. The Veilchen benefited much more from RWE’s defensive mistakes and their failure to convert their chances in the second half. Overall, it was not a game of good third division standard.

Once again, it became clear in this game that the Red and Whites are extremely vulnerable on the wings. To put it in perspective: a total of 15 of the 25 goals conceded came from the wings (60 percent). In the last five games, RWE has conceded eight goals in this manner, which is clearly too many. In the 3-3 draw in Dresden, all goals were scored from the wings. Twice, a cross was not prevented, and in the 2-2 draw, Jonas Sterner was able to dribble almost from the touchline into the middle and shoot unmarked.

In Aue, it was also evident that the defensive wing positions are a clear weakness. Eric Voufack was unable to prevent the decisive cross that led to Pascal Fallmann’s goal, and Lucas Brumme was left watching as the second goal was scored.

Brumme and Julian Eitschberger clearly have their strengths in moving forward, and the same is true of their replacements Voufack and Nils Kaiser (currently injured), whose defensive weaknesses are even more pronounced. The defenders are simply too far away from the opposing attackers, which means they rarely manage to block crosses or shots on goal, regardless of whether they are playing with a back four or a back five.

Dabrowski must reshuffle again against Sandhausen, Brumme out

It is already clear that head coach Christoph Dabrowski will have to make at least one change to his starting lineup for the upcoming home game against league leaders SV Sandhausen (November 23, 2 p.m.). Left-back Brumme, who at least provided a lot of impetus in attack in Aue, is out due to his yellow-red card. Eitschberger returns from suspension.