A year ago, 1860 greeted from second place after ten games - now the fourth of the previous year is approaching the relegation zone.
It has been clear since Saturday: It's not because of Mölders.
When the need for lions got bigger and bigger, Sascha Mölders was allowed to go.
The captain, who had been banished to the bank for the first time since June 2020, came with the first wave of substitutions, a second wave with three other offensive jokers followed shortly afterwards - an act of desperation that did not turn the chaotic game in Lotte any more.
As in the previous year, SC Verl and the favorite from Munich split 1: 1 - but the discussions are very different from those on November 24, 2020 that will be held this time.
One is: Do the lions have to say goodbye to their dream of promotion after ten match days?
Another: What adjustments can trainer Michael Köllner turn if individual therapy appointments and the removal of the poorly shaped Mölders did not lead to a change?
Biankadi hits with a hoe - Verl answers with a Sunday shot
Depressing from the point of view of the crashed fourth in the previous year: On Saturday, even an early lead (22nd) was not enough to put an equally insecure team from Verl in their place. At first it actually looked as if the 1860 professionals would "leave their comfort zone", as sports director Günther Gorenzel had wished for. Driven by the strengthened substitute captain Stefan Lex, the lions captured numerous balls in the losing half. One of these pressing actions led via Phillipp Steinhart (flat cross), SC captain Mael Cornoz (failed defensive action) and the quick-witted Merv Biankadi (dust-off with a hoe) to the 1-0 lead. What happened after the break, however, was typical for a team in a phase of self-discovery. First the guests were outragedthat two impetuous actions by the ex-lion Cottrell Ezekwem only resulted in a yellow card (one after the other, the 2.02 m tall shoulder patient pushed Bär and Biankadi out of the way). Then it came as it had to come: Lex fended off a corner kick in the middle. There, 32 meters from the goal, Nico Ochojski took measurements - and chased the ball with the outer instep on a high trajectory into the left corner of the cross (66th).
For us it was important that we at least score again after the defeat against Zwickau.
It is always difficult to win away from home in the third division. "
1860 coach Michael Köllner
After that, the lions no longer had a real final offensive in the cross.
Even Mölders missed his only chance to score (header, not really caught) - and Köllner had to reinterpret a two-fold loss of points into a point gain, as has so often been the case in recent weeks.
"It was important for us that we at least score again after the defeat against Zwickau," he said: "It is always difficult to win away from home in the third division." At least he is spared a long-lasting debate about the captain.
With or without Mölders - the Lions in their current form are rightly closer to the relegation zone than in the area of second place in the table, which they held after ten match days a year ago.
Bodden is blaspheming - the Mölders clan is fighting back
A Mölders debate of a special kind is keeping the club in suspense. Olaf Bodden, the Löwen's Bundesliga storm tank in the 90s, was harshly criticized on the BR radio show “Today in the Stadium”.
"If you are honest, such a place has little place in professional football," the 53-year-old blasphemed about the self-proclaimed "Wampe von Giesing".
Since then, there has been a lot going on on the BR24 Facebook channel.
Even Gerd Mölders, the father of the troubled striker, stepped in: “Now, when things are not going so well, it's NATURALLY the pelvic to blame.” Likewise, Ivonne Mölders: “In the Bundesliga it didn't bother anyone.
But that's right, when he was 14, he was thin as a line. "
So it is clear: On Saturday against Viktoria Berlin, Köllner can count on a captain who has been pecked twice.