Suat Serdar: Change of tactics paid off

Suat, huge congratulations on the win against Union. Did you always believe you could get the win so late in the game?
Of course! We gave it our all right up to the last minute and showed just how badly we wanted to win. I’m delighted that we could break our run of three consecutive home draws and secure all three points.

You scored the winning goal in the 86th minute! Can you describe the goal from your point of view?
It happened really fast. Cali won the ball, and then the ball passed from Ahmed to Amine to me. I’m glad I connected with it well and it went in. My teammates set me up for the goal very nicely.

And how were the moments after it went it?
There was a tremendous feeling of relief in the stadium. It was incredible. The feeling of scoring the winning goal is indescribable. The same can be said about celebrating with the fans after the full-time whistle. There’s simply no better feeling.

You’ve now scored five goals already this season. What’s behind your current goalscoring form?
A lot of things just seem to be going right for me this season. That’s also because the team is playing better than last season. We’re making progress every week, which is a lot of fun. We have a lot of quality in the team and we showed that once again. I’m not just talking about the guys on the pitch but also our substitute and reserve players. We push each other to be better but we also just enjoy playing football together.

The first half didn’t exactly go according to plan, though…
Which is why the coach made some tactical changes during the break. Cali and I tried to push further forward in the second half and cause the opposition defence some more problems. In the end, it paid off.

What did you make of Union Berlin’s performance?
They played very well. They gave us a real battle and made life difficult for us. We weren’t surprised by that. Having seen their results from the last few weeks, we were expecting to come up against a strong and confident side.

The team is now right up near the top of the table on 25 points. What’s next?
Our mindset remains the same. We have always said we just want to take it game by game and we will continue to do so. The table looks good for us at the moment but we’ve still only played 13 games.

You can sit back and watch the other games this weekend from the comfort of your sofa…
I’m not sure yet if I will watch the other matches because my family is visiting this weekend and we obviously want to enjoy our time together and not just sit on the sofa the whole time. I’ll probably just end up watching the highlights on Sunday.