Our next opponents: Elversberg looking to continue success story

Position

Elversberg claimed one of the results of the weekend in Bundesliga 2 as they ended Hamburg’s six-game unbeaten run with an impressive 4-2 win at home on Saturday. It was a result that prevented HSV from going top of the table and moved the Saarland club up into seventh, just three points off the promotion positions.

Horst Steffen’s team are in good form, earning 10 points from their last four games. They even went behind inside six minutes against HSV but turned things around before the break through Fisnik Asllani. Elversberg then outplayed the one-time Bundesliga club for much of the second half and were soon 3-1 up thanks to Asllani and Luca Schnellbacher. HSV did get a goal back inside the final 10 minutes, but after Jonas Meffert was sent off for a second yellow, Robin Fellhauer wrapped things up deep into added time. It was the second game in a row that the captain had fired in from outside the box, having earned a 1-1 draw away at Preußen Münster the previous week.

Over the last four weeks, wins at Hertha Berlin (4-1), against Kaiserslautern (1-0) and the aforementioned results over Münster and HSV have seen Elversberg climb from 12th up to the upper reaches of the table. It’s another chapter in the remarkable recent story of this club from a town of 13,000, which has seen the team earn promotion to the 3. Liga in 2022, then beat Leverkusen 4-3 in the first round of the cup on 30 July, before winning the division to achieved back-to-back promotions up to Bundesliga 2 in 2023. They finished their first season at that level in 11th place and are now continuing that success story. Elversberg were also comfortable winners in cup back in August, beating Hildesheim of the fifth tier 7-0 for the first round’s biggest win.

Personnel

Steffen took over at Elversberg on 29 October 2018, meaning the club’s second DFB Pokal encounter with Bayer 04 comes on his sixth anniversary at the helm. The 55-year-old former Bundesliga player (Uerdingen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Duisburg) has so far overseen 230 competitive fixtures in charge. Alongside sporting director Nils-Ole Book, he has ensured continuity in their ascent up the pyramid. “The core of the team has always remained the same. That’s hugely important,” said Steffen. “The boys have built up great confidence in each other over the years and developed our style of play together.” Nine players who featured in the win over Leverkusen two years ago are still in the Elversberg squad, including key figures such as goalkeeper Nicolas Kristof, captain Fellhauer, defenders Maurice Neubauer and Lukas Pinckert, midfielder Carlo Sickinger, and forwards Manuel Feil and Schnellbacher.

From the team that comfortably secured Bundesliga 2 safety last year, only former captain Kevin Conrad (retired), Paul Wanner (end of loan from Bayern Munich), Jannik Rochelt (Hannover) and Hugo Vandermersch (end of loan from Caen) have left.

Elversberg have again focused on young potential when bringing in new players. Striker Asllani (22, on loan from Hoffenheim) has emerged as their top scorer with six goals and a further three assists. Muhammed Damar (20) has also come on a season-long deal from Sinsheim. Elias Baum (19, on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt) has started all 11 fixtures this season at right-back. Lukas Petkov (23, signed from Augsburg) has established himself in attacking midfield. There are also more experienced names in the squad, such as 29-year-old centre-back additions Maximilian Rohr and Florian Le Joncour. The latter has been out with an elbow injury since early in the season, though. The Bundesliga 2 side will also come to the BayArena without defenders Frederik Jäkel (match fitness after cruciate ligament injury), Patryk Dragon (knee) and midfielder Semih Sahin (calf).

Problems

Elversberg’s biggest issue last season was in defence, where they conceded 63 goals to finish with the fourth-worst total in Bundesliga 2. Set pieces in particular were a big problem, but they’ve mostly managed to rectify those frailties this term. In fact, that weakness has become a strength, with Steffen’s men conceding only 12 goals across 10 league fixtures, which is now the third-best defence in the division behind Hannover (six) and Fortuna Düsseldorf (11).

Performers

Elversberg press high and run hard. Those are the trump cards they impressively displayed again against HSV at the weekend. Coach Steffen likes an attacking style, and his side rank fifth in Bundesliga 2 for goals scored with 19. And now they’re also more solid at the back, it appears the Saarland club have found the right balance to their play. With the team also being together for a number of years, they have an excellent understanding on the pitch. Steffen has been able to field the same back four in each of the last six games (Neubauer, Rohr, Pinckert and Baum), while he boasts two of Bundesliga 2’s best forwards at the moment in Schnellbacher (five goals) and Asllani (six).