Ahead of the game at 1860 Munich, RWE sporting director Christian Flüthmann spoke about the current situation in the table, the team’s weakness on the road and the many last-minute goals.

Rot-Weiss Essen have often shone this season with goals in stoppage time. A total of eight points were secured after regular time. “That’s no coincidence,” said sporting director Christian Flüthmann, who spoke about the last-minute strength of the Red & Whites on MagentaSport before the away game.

“In the first two victories in stoppage time, we said come on, they did that well, but now you can say: that’s a sign of quality,” emphasized the 41-year-old. The best example of this was the late 4:3 win over Freiburg, when Nils Kaiser in the 89th minute and Moussa Doumbouya in the 90th and first half turned the game around. “We were superior on the pitch, had chances, but were suddenly 2:3 down. Then you can see that the players are still clear. They don’t lose their nerves, but instead stick to their style of play and remain completely focused,” praised Flüthmann. “That’s great to see, of course.”

But the sports director also knows: “Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to do.” The focus is particularly on the many goals conceded – only SC Verl (35) conceded more goals than RWE (33) in the top 10 – and the weakness on the road. While no other third-division club has scored more points at home, they are only 14th in the away ranking ahead of the catch-up game in Munich. “It’s not a big issue, but of course it bothers us,” admitted Flüthmann.

“What is noticeable is that we concede an early goal in many away games,” analyzed the sporting director. “We need to work on being there from the very first minute and not being intimidated by the crowd.”

But even without the points dropped on the road, the team is in a “very comfortable” position in the table. “We’re happy about where we are, but we’re still humble about it,” explained Flüthmann, who also made it clear: “That doesn’t mean we’re slowing down, for God’s sake – we’re already focused and motivated – but there’s still a long way to go. “