In the first half of the season, the Offenbach Kickers show light and shade. OFC are the best team in the league in some areas, just mediocre in others.
Offenbach – Il Offenbacher Kickers go into the winter break eight points behind leaders SSV Ulm 1846. There are a few reasons for that. In some areas, however, OFC is the first team in the Southwest Regional Football League. An interim report.
OFC can continue to count on its supporters. A total of 65,985 spectators attended the previous eleven home games. This corresponds to an average of 5,999 and is once again a lone leader in the rankings. For comparison: the teams from Ulm (2762) and Trier (2455) in second and third place in this balance sheet do not have such a high value together. However, the Kickers must also thank the season ticket record (3847). Subscribers are always counted whether they are present or not. In any case, the official and perceived numbers of viewers were clearly different recently. The OFC had the most visitors in the main game against Ulm (7577), the last one against RW Koblenz (5236).
Kickers stronghold Offenbach: Only one home defeat so far
Given this number of spectators, it is not surprising that the Bieberer Berg stadium resembles a fortress that is difficult to conquer. The Kickers have lost just one of their eleven home games (1:2 against FC Homburg) and have scored more points on their home turf than any other team, that is 26 (W8, D2, L1, 26:10 goals). However, the Ulm residents (24), who are still unbeaten at home, have not played a home game so far. In the away table, OFC (W3, D2, L4, 11:12 goals) are only disappointingly tenth. Ulm (ten games, 21 points) and TSG Balingen (nine games, 20 points) had to admit defeat on the road.
The Kickers provided the best defense in the league the previous two seasons. This is not the case in the current round. 22 goals conceded after 20 games mean only third place behind Balingen (21) and Ulm (12). OFC kept only five clean sheets: in Kassel (1-0), against Walldorf (3-0), in Stuttgart (2-0), against Worms (3-0) and Koblenz (1-0) . In terms of goals scored (37), the Kickers are level with Ulm, but overall they only share fourth place, behind TSV Steinbach Haiger (43), FC Homburg (42) and TSG Hoffenheim II (39).
Scorers and series: what Kickers Offenbach can build on
Jakob Lemmer is Offenbach’s best shooter with eight strokes. The 22-year-old native scored half when playing as a forward in the first eight games of the season under then manager Alexander Schmidt. After changing coaches and returning to the offensive wing position, he contributed four more goals and three assists. With a total of twelve points, Lemmer is again the best in Offenbach, ahead of Björn Jopek (8) and Dominik Wanner (7). In the league-wide goalscorers list, the OFC forward shares fifth place, behind Cas Peters (FSV Frankfurt, 13), Fabian Eisele (FC Homburg, 12), Niklas Antlitz (Astoria Walldorf, 11) and Lucas Röser (SSV Ulm 1846, 9)
To be able to close the gap from the top after the weak start to the season (only eleven points in eight games), the Kickers would have had to put down a real series. However, it didn’t work. OFC had their best phase when they picked up 13 points in five games under interim manager Alfred Kaminski (W2, D1) and new manager Ersan Parlatan. In addition, there were two streaks of four games in a row without defeat.
OFC won three times with three goals, each at home: against Hoffenheim II (5:2), Walldorf and Worms (each 3:0). In the second leg, however, Hoffenheim suffered the heaviest defeat of 1:3, with two and three goals in added time. In the other four failures in Worms, in Koblenz (each 0:1), against Homburg (1:2) and in Steinbach (2:3), the OFC only lost narrowly.
Sebastian Zieliecki’s bad luck with injuries – Breitenbach a long-standing problem for OFC
With Sebastian Zieliecki’s injury it ended in October an impressive run Until then, the Polish centre-back had been used 91 times in a row for OFC in the Regionalliga Südwest, which was only interrupted by a yellow card suspension in mid-April 2022. A tendon rupture now prevented him from winning the unofficial title of the all-time favorite this season will be able to defend. But even this season a central defender is on top.
Jayson Breitenbach only missed the duel with his former club FSV Mainz 05 II due to a yellow card suspension. Overall it brings it to 1647 out of 1800 possible minutes of use. Goalkeeper David Richter and midfielder Björn Jopek (1620) share second place in this league table. At the end of the statistics are Almin Mesanovic (11), who can still play for the Under-19 team, and Jost Mairose (173), who was signed before the season and played nine times, but mostly only came in as substitute in the final .
No OFC player has been substituted as often as Lucas Hermes. The 22-year-old forward has come off the bench in 12 of his 18 appearances this season, contributing three of his four points (two goals, two assists). Semir Saric has been substituted ten times. Basically, new coach Ersan Parlatan was extremely lucky. The substitutes he hired in nine games under him scored eight goals and provided six assists. If you add the balance of his five season games as coach of TSV Steinbach Haiger, you even get 21 goals. This is the top of the league.
Kickers Offenbach: Not a single top in the equity table
In the equity table, kickers are only in the middle third. 48 yellow cards is the fourth most in the league, behind FSV Frankfurt (52) and Worms and Koblenz (each (51). The OFC player most frequently booked is Björn Jopek (8). Maximilian Rossmann (5), who was later signed, sat also only Jayson Breitenbach, who saw the Giallorossi in Steinbach, was sent off.
The most unfair team in the league is the promoted VfR Wormatia Worms, where the 51 yellow cards are joined by two yellow and reds and three reds. Only four teams have not been sent off so far, including leaders VfB Stuttgart II (31 yellow cards). (Christian Duncher)
