Kenan Karaman: Everyone has to be ready

“I know the runs that Simon makes, so I delayed the pass a little,” said Karaman, describing the situation in the 48th minute where he played the ball past Marton Dardai and dribbled into the opposition’s penalty area. “I considered briefly if I should cut onto my left and shoot, but Simon was in a good position, and I knew if I played it to him he would put it in,” said the 29-year-old, who replaced Tim Skarke at half time, who had suffered a deep cut to his ankle and had to stay off at half time.

Every single player will be needed in the fight for survival

Head coach Thomas Reis had to make a total of three substitutions due to injury on Friday evening, with Ralf Fährmann (adductor injury) and Cedric Brunner (shoulder injury) also joining Skarke on the sidelines for now. This means it will be even more important that every player in the squad puts in a good performance if called upon, which Karaman also highlighted. “There are only a few games left, everyone has to be ready,” said the attacker and emphasised that everyone in the team has to accept the situation, even if they have limited minutes at the moment. “There can’t be any vanity.”

The 5-2 win against a direct competitor in the fight to survive was a good reaction to a deserved 2-0 defeat five days before against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. “We sat down together with the training team for a long time and did a lot of analysis,” said Karaman and expanded: “As a team, we kept our word.”

Full concentration for the run-in

The win against Hertha can only be enjoyed briefly before the Royal Blues compete yet again for some crucial points against SC Freiburg. “It is blow by blow now,” said Karaman, looking ahead to the run-in. “It is now about contesting these last few games with full concentration.”