Rot-Weiss Essen drew 1-1 against SV Sandhausen. RWE remains in 16th place in the table. Ahmet Arslan praised his team.

Ahmet Arslan is a man who speaks his mind. The Rot-Weiss Essen playmaker is known for this. After the 1-1 draw against SV Sandhausen, Arslan sent a clear message to referee Assad Nouhoum.

The reason: Essen’s midfielder was shown a yellow card in the second half, his fifth of the season. This means he will be suspended for the upcoming away game in Saarbrücken (December 1, 4:30 p.m.).

Arslan reacted with incomprehension in the subsequent interview in the catacombs. “That’s unbelievable. Jakob Lewald, captain of Sandhausen, went up to him and said, ‘Arslan didn’t say anything’. And yet I still got a yellow card. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. It’s unbelievable that I’m suspended because of this. I’ve gotten a lot of yellow cards because I’ve really complained, but in that situation, I just walked away. But I don’t want to get worked up about it now. It would have happened to me eventually anyway, but it still annoys me,” explained Essen’s number six.

Another situation that annoyed Arslan was the early goal that made it 0-1. However, he was also involved in that himself. The 30-year-old wanted to play the ball to Torben Müsel in front of his own penalty area, but the ball didn’t reach him and just a few seconds later Lucas Wolf’s left-footed shot ended up in the net. It was a cold shower after just 37 seconds.

“I wanted to play into his run, but Torben probably assumed that I was going to kick the ball forward. It was a misunderstanding. I played with Lucas Wolf in Kiel, and he’s never shot like that with his left foot in his life. Everything is being punished at the moment,” Arslan emphasized.

Overall, however, the new signing was satisfied with his own team’s performance. He praised their reaction to the early shock, and in the end Leonardo Vonic secured a deserved 1-1 draw for RWE.

This is just a great, big club. The team and the fans work well together. If we remain united like this, we’ll get out of it. I have the feeling that things are slowly moving in the right direction.

Ahmet Arslan.

“When you’re down there, you don’t win games like this. When you’re brimming with confidence, you win 4-1. It was a really good performance. So hats off to every player – and also to the support from outside. This is just a great, big club. The team and the fans work well together. If we stay united like this, we’ll get out of this. I feel like things are slowly moving in the right direction.”