Sreto Ristic has a clear idea of how he wants to get something with SV Sandhausen at Rot-Weiss Essen. Man-to-man marking is not one of them.

SV Sandhausen travel to Essen on Saturday (2 p.m.) in the 3rd division as league leaders. And that supposedly well rested, because SVS coach Sreto Ristic explained with regard to the international break that the clubs have just had: “We tried to regenerate after four days of really good work. Since Tuesday, we started again after three days off. The break was more important for regeneration, as it was very intense before that.”

Now, in the last games before the winter break, the aim is to take advantage of the good starting position. Starting in Essen, where Ristic has to replace four players: Richard Meier (knee ligament injury), Nikolai Rehnen (rehab after meniscus surgery), Jonas Weik (rehab after cruciate ligament rupture) and Luca-Milan Zander (muscular problems).

Nevertheless, he is in a positive mood, even though he has respect for RWE. His outlook: “They are a very attractive opponent in terms of the spectators and the stadium. RWE are good with the ball, they are strong in terms of play. But that’s the league, they didn’t have to lose all the games they lost. Most recently, they switched to a back five and stood deeper. They played a strong game against Cottbus. They can play with different systems.”

It will never be an idea to chase a player individually across the pitch

Sreto Ristic

But Ristic is also aware that RWE has a few personnel problems to overcome, so it’s hard for him to predict exactly what to expect. Hence his announcement: “We have to look after ourselves and try to implement our ideas.”

And one thing is clear: one of the ideas is not to put a man-to-man marker on an opposing player. When asked how he would deal with Ahmet Arslan, who pulls the strings at Essen, the former professional replied: “It will never be an idea to chase a player individually across the pitch. We will continue to take a collective approach. We have good players too, and we try to put them in the limelight. I don’t know how RWE used the two weeks, they won the cup. So we have to do our work.”