1860 Munich is considered one of the favorites in the 3rd division. But the coach sees himself and his team as underdogs in Essen at the start of the season.
There weren’t many question marks anyway about how 1860 Munich would start the 3rd league season at Rot-Weiss Essen on Friday.
And so 1860 coach Patrick Glöckner didn’t beat around the bush and announced at the press conference before the game on Friday at 7 p.m.: “We’ll start the same way we did against Regensburg.”
The team relegated to the 3rd league was sent home with a 4-0 defeat in its dress rehearsal, meaning that even Max Christiansen, who moved to Munich from Hannover 96, will start on the bench for one of the big league favorites.
There he will take his place alongside Soichiro Kozuki, Patrick Hobsch, and Maximilian Wolfram. Lucky is the man who can make such a prominent contribution to the offense in the 3rd division.
Glöckner emphasized before the 90 minutes in Essen: “The team has presented itself very well. But it will be a completely different game in Essen. We have to be completely alert and implement our game plan in all positions. But we’re looking forward to facing an opponent who is extremely strong at home.“
And who is also considered one of the favorites in the new season. Glöckner would like to pass the burden of being the favorite on to a few other clubs. ”There are another five, six, seven clubs that are of a high quality.”
RWE has an incredible transition game, so we always have to be alert
Patrick Glöckner
When it comes down to individual quality, new signings such as Florian Niederlechner and especially Kevin Volland could make the difference. The coach on the new duo: “They have integrated well and can use their experience to help the younger players. It’s also about them leading by example.”
If that’s not the case, there are plenty of players pushing for a place in the starting eleven. As there is currently only one player out, there will be many tough decisions to make. It’s a situation that Glöckner will have to navigate. “It’s certainly not an easy situation for the coaching team to have to tell players that they’re only going to be on the bench or even in the stands. It may well be that we have to drop a player from the squad who will be needed again next week for his special skills. Everyone is extremely important to the team.”
Looking ahead to Friday in Essen, Glöckner is initially taking on the role of the underdog. “RWE has an incredible transition game, so we have to be alert at all times. But regardless of the strength of the opponent, we want to play our football there too.”
1860: Dähne – Dulic, Verlaat, Voet – Danhof, Deniz, Jacobsen, Pfeifer – Volland – Niederlechner, Haugen