Jahn Regensburg’s engine has been sputtering for quite some time now and it wouldn’t get going against Darmstadt either. The 0:2 was the third defeat in a row. Players and coaches found clear words.
The inadequate performance in the first half in particular pissed off those involved. “It was simply bad and it was by far our worst game this year,” Benedikt Saller stated on the club’s own website. Not “two, but four or five players” should have been substituted, said coach Mersad Selimbegovic, annoyed about the first 45 minutes, in which it was “a bit lucky to keep the nil”, as the Jahn coach admitted, after Tim Skarke scored against the post after less than 30 seconds and the Lilien had other good chances.
Singh misses, Elvedi fluffs
Selimbegovic put his finger in the wound mainly because of his team’s approach: “That has to be a lesson for us that you should never start a game like that, that was also a bit fearful. That’s the worst thing for me, when you show fear.”
The 39-year-old had changed personnel after the restart, and his break speech had an effect – and of course the missed chance of Sapreet Singh (68th) was a topic: If the New Zealander had scored, everything could have developed positively. But Selimbegovic described Jan Elvedi’s “gross mistake, which you simply can’t afford at this level” and which resulted in Emir Karic taking the lead (70th) as merciless punishment for a negligent first half and the victory for Darmstadt as “not undeserved”.
Saller sets the tone
With 28 points, only two points behind the promotion-relegation place and eleven ahead of the one in the relegation zone, the Upper Palatinate can still basically be very satisfied. But: Five defeats in the last six games have spoiled an even better result. It is now a matter of “thinking about what is important and what matters,” was Saller’s motto for the short winter break. “We’ll be back in action in the new year. “
