Mark, you finished the Hinrunde in this year's VBL campaign this week. What's your assessment of your season to date?
Landwehr: This season, everybody can beat everybody else in our division regardless of which position the teams are in. At the moment it's difficult for nearly all the players to achieve a certain consistency in their game. That's due in part to a new patch (update or revision of the game, ed.), which has led to changes in the pace of the game and passing. We are happy with our Hinrunde even though we did suffer a couple of avoidable defeats.
What's working well and where do see room for improvement for the Rückrunde?
Landwehr: Above all, we are happy with our attack as we are scoring at least one goal in nearly every game. The setbacks are above all losing possession unnecessarily and conceding easy goals. We'll continue to work on overcoming those mistakes.
This season you are a regular part of the 2 vs 2 team at Bayer 04. Do you train for 2 vs 2 games as regularly as you do for 1 vs 1 games?
Landwehr: We regularly train in 2 vs 2 games, above all in the Ultimate Team mode. The advantage there is that both players don't have to use the same console. For example, Furky can be sat at home and I'm at my place. For the 2 vs 2 games, it also helps to practice 1 vs 1 games. That enables to see each other's runs and we can also exchange ideas about the game and moves.
Mario ‘BULJI’ Lovrinovic came in as a new teammate for Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik and yourself before the start of the season. How is the interaction with each other?
Landwehr: BULJI is still relatively new to professional eSports. He gets forward very quickly and always tries to make deep runs. I knew him before he joined us in the summer I was very happy he signed. I practice a lot of things with him in training and in matches while Furky and I are more focused on a controlled passing game.
All 41 goals in your matches represents the sixth-highest number of goals of all VBL eSports players. How much do you like playing the current FIFA version? What's different compared with the previous version?
Landwehr: In comparison to the previous way of playing, we now play in a 95 mode rather than a 90 mode in the VBL. For me it's also an advantage that all the strikers now have five-star skills. I really like that and I score lots of goals with good dribbles in attack. The addition of the outside of the foot shot really pleases me too.
You will start the Rückrunde in the North West division in tenth place and the gap to the play-off spots is currently five points. Is finishing in the top six still your clear target?
Landwehr: Of course, our target remains the top six, which we were in before the final matchday. Six points are available on every double matchday and, as mentioned, everybody can beat everybody else. We can quickly move up the table if we continue to make the effort. But now we’ll take a couple days off and spend time with the family. But after that it's back to training where we will specifically work on the newest patch of the game again.
Marc Landwehr:
Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr joined the #B04 eSports squad at the age of 18 for the start of the 2021/21 season in the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL). Mark grew up in Leverkusen and has been a passionate Werkself fan since childhood. He took part in several online tournaments at Bayer 04 in the past and always achieved impressive results, which put him in the running for a place in the eSports squad at Bayer 04. Alongside his career as a qualified nurse plus his passion for eSports, he also plays in goal.
Bosnia U19 international Kerim Alajbegovic is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen's youth set-up to Red Bull Salzburg. The talented attacking midfielder has signed a long-term contract with the Austrian club. At the same time, the works club secured a buy-back option for the 17-year-old, who was one of the mainstays of the Leverkusen U19s.
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