Captain Lex takes everyone with him and dreams of climbing

Created: 01/03/2022Updated: 01/03/2022, 5:39 PM

From: Uli Kellner

Where are the lions headed in the second half of the season?

Captain Stefan Lex in the team hotel in Belek.

© Stefan Matzke / Sampics

A new era dawned in 1860: after Sascha Mölders' reign for six years, it is now Stefan Lex who brings in his leadership style.

Shortly before leaving for the training camp, Stefan Lex felt the burden of his new triple stress. It expressed itself in the form of excess baggage, because in addition to his role as a goal scorer and captain, Lex is also the unofficial board game officer of TSV 1860. He received the brief from team manager Fatih Aslan to organize a team evening. For Lex this meant: squeeze a few more games into the Belek bag. There is no shortage of choice at home in Eitting - a few were added at Christmas. "Although my wife has already scolded", as the striker reports with a glance at his overflowing shelves: "She says: There are now only new games if I throw out an old one per game."

Lex had chosen for Monday evening: "Just one", "Color Brain" and "What do you meme?" Three games that are touted by the manufacturers as "entertaining party fun" - ideal for the assignment, the Lex according to the ideas of the trainer Michael Köllner has to meet.

After the six-year reign of Sascha Mölders, it reads: Promote team spirit, create a new way of working together, create solidarity.

Everything that, according to reports, fell by the wayside at the end of the Mölders era.

Team evening in Belek - organized by the board game fan Lex

From Köllner's point of view, Lex, 32, is the ideal captain. Popular with young and old, balancing, sporty as an ex-Bundesliga player beyond any doubt. There was no official successor election, but Lex himself knows that he won't get rid of the bandage that he last wore twice on his arm. “The trainer determined it. That's nice, I'll take it with me - but it's also a bit more responsibility, ”says the native Bavarian. The fact that he would appear for his heart club was "an unrealistic dream": "I'm all the more pleased that I'm captain - although I don't want to celebrate for it."

The team is more likely, because Lex's approach is different from that of the ex-Alphalöwen Mölders. “I won't imitate Sascha - neither can I,” says Lex, who promises: “I try to involve everyone, especially the young and new players. But that was my approach even before. "Lex sees it this way:" Everyone at us has to move ahead more - and I think we managed to do that very well twice. "

As with the victories in Dortmund (2-0) and Würzburg (3-0), the Lions want to continue. Sporty, tactical - but above all also human when it comes to dealing with one another. “After the Magdeburg game we sat down in the dressing room,” reports Lex: “It's nothing unusual in a season and has less to do with Sascha and more to do with the first half (0: 5). None of us as professionals have ever experienced anything like this. It was clear to everyone: we cannot go on like this. We have to find a different approach. From the community. And how we defend ourselves in such games. "

After the Magdeburg game we sat down in the dressing room.

That had less to do with Sascha and more to do with the first half (0: 5).

None of us as professionals have ever experienced anything like this.

It was clear to everyone: we cannot go on like this.

The new 1860 captain Stefan Lex.

A by-product of the more defensive route was that there was space in the front for a new storm duo: Lex and Marcel Bär (alias Lexi & Cello) harmonized like an old couple, shared the five away goals and even put some on each other. “It couldn't have gone better for us,” says Lex. A striker has left, two new ones were born - not the worst that could happen in 1860 with a view to the second half of the season: “We don't have a player until winter stands at 15 goals. But the cello has eight, some have five - in the end a few could be in the double-digit range, which makes it harder for us to calculate. "

The common goal is easy to guess.

Circular question to the “Codenames” fan Lex: If an imaginary partner says “Aufstieg 3” and the cards with the names of the 20 third division teams are in front of him - which of the clubs would he associate with the code word?

Mischievous answer from the gaming professional: "Magdeburg, Mannheim - and I'll leave the last team open." Which one will it be?

Lex again: "I have always said that I want to experience an ascent here."