This is how fast it can happen in the 3rd division. Should MSV Duisburg win against Waldhof Mannheim on Monday evening (23 January, 7pm), the Zebras would be back in the top half of the table.
MSV Duisburg got off to a perfect start in the rest of the 3rd division. The Zebras won 3-2 away at 1. FC Saarbrücken.
Now it’s time for the Meiderich side to go one better in their home match on Monday (23 January, 7 p.m., RevierSport live ticker). SV Waldhof Mannheim will be coming to the MSV Arena. The team from the Palatinate is currently four points behind third place and four points ahead of MSV.
The starting position is clear: if MSV win, Duisburg would suddenly be in the thick of the promotion race. “Being thick in the deal doesn’t interest me at all. You can tell me that again in May. Then we’ll see where we stand. Our current goals are different. Namely, to bring in more consistency. The next step would be not to play a worse game or achieve a worse result, but to go one better. That can only happen with the same will as against Saarbrücken,” Torsten Ziegner emphasised.
The fact that Mannheim are the best home team in the league, but also the worst away team – eight games, six defeats, two draws, no wins – in the 3rd division is irrelevant to the MSV coach.
Our home record has felt totally bad for the winter. We’ve played a lot of draws. We want to give our fans a lot more wins. The best place to start is with the first home game of 2023 against Waldhof Mannheim
Torsten Ziegner
Ziegner: “I’m already of the opinion that a two-month break means a fresh start. The statistical away table says nothing at this point. Rather, Mannheim won impressively against 1860. That’s what interests us, not the statistics.”
However, the experienced ex-professional Ziegner does have an explanation for Mannheim’s weakness away from home so far. He explains Mannheim’s discrepancy between home and away performances as follows: “Having their own stadium with fans, with the force, leads to them performing differently. Also in terms of self-confidence. Football is also a bit of psychology. If you haven’t won away from home for a while, you think about it more.”
Ziegner also knows, however, that the situation at MSV is rather the other way round – i.e.: Away is good, at home is bad – there have been two victories, four draws and two defeats. “Our home record felt totally bad in the winter. We played a lot of draws. We want to give our fans a lot more wins. The best place to start is with the first home game of 2023 against Waldhof Mannheim,” Ziegner emphasised. No MSV fan would object to that.
