Team
02.11.22
Captain Schonlau: Back in the thick of things at last
On Sunday, in the home match against SSV Jahn Regensburg, team captain Sebastian Schonlau is allowed to play again after serving his red card suspension - and talks about his return.
It was a classic lose-lose situation, if you like. In any case, there weren't many wins after Sebastian Schonlau opted for what was, in retrospect, the wrong means of choice to decisively disrupt attacker Etienne Amenyido in the city derby. Push, red card, sending off, suspension. And a lot of frustration for Schonlau himself and few points for his team. The captain dutifully and guiltily took the defeat in the city derby on his shoulders, and then followed the exit in the DFB Cup against RB Leipzig as well as the 2:3 in the league against 1. FC Magdeburg, before the team with the grandstand support of the captain at his old place of work in Paderborn finally delivered a win for the lose-lose situation thanks to the 3:2 away victory.
But now Schonlau is finally back. And he's really happy about it: "I really missed being on the pitch with the boys and I'm glad that the week now has a highlight again at the end," said "Bascho" on Wednesday during a media round at the training ground. The weekend and the game as a reward for the week's work - for Schonlau, playing together with his team is just that.
"It did hurt not to be there, but to be completely out and not be able to actively help the team." Especially as the captain was also missing his team, not just the other way round. "There have now been three or four games in which some of the performances, but above all the results, were not what we expected," says Schonlau, but sees the game in Paderborn as a possible turning point: "That was a good step in the right direction, but we can't rest on our laurels now. It's still a matter of implementing the basics in the best possible way and not getting lost in the details. That means defensively defending aggressively and consistently taking our chances up front."
"We want to be successful, the fans deserve that."
That's how the fourth home win should finally come about. Finally, because this was actually planned much earlier, but the draw against 1. FC Kaiserslautern and the defeat against 1. FC Magdeburg ruined the plan. "We have struggled in home games recently, at least in terms of results," the defender also knows, "of course we ourselves also imagine home games differently and want to be successful. The fans deserve that, because the stadium is always full." This will also be the case on Sunday against SSV Jahn Regensburg. More than 45,000 spectators will once again be in the thick of things. And so will Sebastian Schonlau.