It is not often that there is silence in a stadium filled with many thousands of people immediately after the half-time whistle of a second division game. That was the case on Sunday in Fürth’s 3-1 defeat against Hannover 96. Only a few of the 1,000 or so guest fans applauded subtly, while the 9,000 other visitors were silent. Not out of protest, it seemed. Rather out of deep helplessness in view of the intermediate score of 0:2 after goals from Nicolo Tresoldi (16th) and Derrick Köhn (22nd). And that was more than justified, as was finally to be seen an hour later after the end of the game. After five games, Fürth has four points on the account. From the point of view of the people of Fürth, the way this home defeat came about is even more depressing than the bare numbers: Last but not least, the Fürth presentation was extremely poor in terms of play.
Crosses from the half-field were almost always the method of choice, especially in the first round, the not so few chances mostly resulted from pure coincidence or individual performances. The latter with two long-range shots by Julian Green, one of which ended particularly well in the goal to make it 2-1 (49′). The former with a harmless shot by Jomaine Consbruch, which Dennis Srbeny unintentionally deflected with his stomach in such a way that it became dangerous. Stefan Kleineheismann and Rainer Widmayer, who had to take over the coaching on the sidelines on behalf of the yellow-red suspended Alexander Zorniger, did what they could. But even after the double change on the offensive (69th), the attacking efforts didn’t get any better.
In short: A playful line, as it has been part of the Fürth identity for many years in successful and weaker periods, could not be identified on Sunday. That, not the individual difference to expensive Hanover players like Derrick Köhn or Marcel Halstenberg, was remarkable. If there are also defensive performances like the third 96 goal, you really have to worry about the cloverleaf that lasts beyond the day of the game: Neither with the ultimately successful header from Halstenberg (56th), nor with the preparation by Fabian Kunze, also per Head, efficient counter-defense could be seen. “I didn’t find our duel behavior suitable for the second division,” said Zorniger after the game – not least meaning this scene.
The logical consequence was a 1:3 defeat, which would be worrying even without the games of the recent past. In that, Fürth somehow managed to lose 5-0 to a Berlin Hertha last weekend, who lost 3-0 in the game before and 6-4 in the game after that. Against Hannover, the presumably only second division team that is even more unpredictable than the Fürth itself, the defeat was so early on that the Fürther Ultras had plenty of time to prepare the team for the Franconia derby in two weeks.
It’s about “playing football better and showing that you’re horny to win”, the fans let the players know. That’s exactly what you should have expected in the game that just ended, Zorniger thought, who played the game at all without whitewashing: “We have set ourselves a lot of goals today in terms of being aggressive, but we didn’t do it aggressively in many areas. That was a bit sobering. We’re in the fifth game.”
