Torsten Lieberknecht has put Darmstadt 98 back on track for success. The Lilies picked up ten of a possible twelve points in October and suddenly find themselves among the top teams.
6:1 at Sandhausen, 3:0 against Bremen, 2:0 against Nürnberg, plus a draw at Holstein Kiel. Darmstadt presented themselves as strong as nails in October and worked their way back into the top flight of the 2. Liga after a weak start to the season due to Corona.
In their recent 2-0 win over Club, who were previously unbeaten in the league, the Lilies proved that you can also be successful with a passive style of play against the ball. Coach Lieberknecht knew that Nürnberg would be superior in his team’s combination play and therefore had a compact midfield pressing played. “It was maybe not as glamorous as in some other games this season,” defender Emir Karic admitted of the awkward style of play.
“We don’t always defend perfectly “
The match plan worked out perfectly, however, as attacker Luca Pfeiffer was once again dependable and the club grew more and more tired as time went on. The Franconians had 120 cup minutes in their legs and rarely had any sparkling ideas against the Darmstadt bulwark. “We don’t always defend perfectly, but we defend our own sixteen well. That’s a quality that the boys have developed. It’s important that everyone at the back is prepared to defend intensively,” said Lieberknecht in praise of his team’s defensive work.
The Lilies have already shown that they can also play differently this season. Offensive spectacles like against Ingolstadt, Hannover and Sandhausen prove that Darmstadt can do much more than “just” defend against teams with strong play. With 27 goals, the southern Hessians share the league’s second-best offence with Regensburg; only league leader St. Pauli is even better in this category (28).
Isherwood shines
But against the club it was still the two centre-backs Patric Pfeiffer and Thomas Isherwood (1,5) who stood out and also found themselves in the kicker eleven of matchday 12. Isherwood in particular, who continues to deputise for regular defender Lasse Sobiech, is increasingly becoming an important pillar in the back four and played a big part in the fact that the Lilies conceded just two goals in October.
The next top team in the league is Schalke on Sunday, against whom Darmstadt will certainly present themselves in a similar tactical manner. However, the momentum is with the Lilien, as the Knappen were recently knocked out in the cup against 1860 Munich and also lost in the league against Heidenheim “Currently we often have the moments on our side, we are ice-cold and reward ourselves for the performances,” Tobias Kempe knows about the strength of form of Darmstadt, who want to follow up their strong October with an even better November.
