Start from the beginning here!

The week goes by and our next game is against Hertha Berlin, who currently sit level with us in the table, behind us only on the virtue of goal difference.

I stick with the 4-3-3 which saw us batter Hannover purely for the sake of attempting to keep some consistency together more than anything else. The back four remains the same while Novais, having got himself an assist in just under 25 minutes of playing time, makes his first start for the club in place of Maximilian Eggestein who is given a rest. The front three of Bartels, Johannes Eggestein and Vitor remains unchanged also.

In the first five minutes we’re given a warning shot, as Esswein sends a cross to the back post for Salomon Kalou, who narrowly heads wide. Joao Novais, who dominates early proceedings from the centre of the park, plays Bartels out onto the wing, who whips in a cross which finds the head of Eggestein, who can’t get it on target from six yards and heads just over.

In the 40th minute, Junuzovic has a free kick wide-right. He floats a perfect cross in, straight as an arrow and into the mix. There’s a tussle in the box and Veljkovic goes down after Niklas Stark is too rough with him. The whistle is blown and the referee points to the spot almost instantly. Junuzovic steps up to take the penalty after a solid minute of Hertha players yelling in the face of the referee and he makes no mistake, lashing it into the inside-netting on his left. 1-0.

Then, early in the second half, Hertha equalise from a corner after Uros Spajic heads the ball on goal, though a lucky bounce off Kalou puts the ball right at the feet of Aymen Barkok, who only has to kick it on target from less than six yards to score. To make matters worse, Junuzovic goes down with an injury five minutes later, making it two injuries in one game as Friedl went off fairly early with a slight knock.

The game becomes fragmented and scrappy after this. Vitor puts in a performance which is much more typical of a new signing in a new system and I drag him off to replace him with Kainz but it makes no difference. The game ends 1-1 and the opportunity to get an advantage over one of the teams around us goes begging.

Thankfully, Junuzovic’s injury isn’t as bad as it could have been and it turns out to only be a twisted ankle which will keep him out for a few weeks at most. Kainz has only suffered a bruised thigh which will keep him out for a week, so we’ve got off lightly. Annoyingly the next game comes against Frankfurt, one of the many teams who are within a couple of points of the top of the table.

I persist with the 4-3-3 as it’s got us results out of our last two games. Eggestein returns in place of Novais, whilst Gondorf replaces Junuzovic as a Box-to-Box Midfielder. Augustinsson fills in for the injured Friedl and Kainz and Rashica replace Vitor and Bartels.

Frankfurt test our defence. They hit the post after 12 minutes, which seems to wake up our defence who must have been under the same impression as I was. The first half is uneventful in terms of real goalscoring chances but Frankfurt edge us statistically in terms of shots. Worse still, Moisander comes off with an injury just before the half-time whistle is blown and it looks like a bad one. He limps off but he’s visibly in tears as he does so. The medical staff look over to me and shake their heads as he goes.

After a good grilling at half time, where I tell the team that they’re performing massively below expectations, the defensive change of Veljkovic in for Moisander actually seems to improve us. We restrict Frankfurt’s goalscoring chances much more, though our attack still looks about as flaccid as a heavily drunk man’s penis. I make a double-change, Max Kruse is sadly relied upon for his striking duties in place of Eggestein, while the unimpressive Rashica is replaced by Vitor who is not natural on the right-wing, though he is right-footed so I hope it will work in our favour.

Still we struggle to break through and, late in the game, a Frankfurt corner provides us with an opportunity to counter. Frankfurt try a bit too much passing on the edge of the area and Delaney dispossesses them, playing it quickly to Kruse. Kruse takes the ball to the centre circle and looks up, spotting Paulo Vitor who is sprinting ahead between the two full-backs, still yet to regain shape from the corner. Kruse’s pass is precise and Paulo Vitor breaks away from the full backs, taking the ball wider than I’d like into the penalty area. He comes up with a piece of magic, however, and lobs the ball over the onrushing keeper, catching him out completely and sending the ball rolling into the back of the net. The little Brazilian has done it.

He wheels away in celebration, pulling off his shirt and throwing it into the crowd as the bench, myself included, goes absolutely mental. The result in itself isn’t huge though results elsewhere, particularly Hertha dropping points, mean we gained the advantage we failed to make last weekend. This kid isn’t bad. All for the hefty fee of £975k.

The news after the match isn’t great. Moisander has suffered cruciate ligament damage which is expected to keep him out until September. One of our top earners, whilst not a regular starter, is unusable for the rest of the season. More worryingly, he’ll probably be more difficult to shift in the summer transfer window.

Regardless, the win takes us 3 points ahead of Hertha, one point behind Schalke (who were joint-top at the winter break) and three points behind Leverkusen. We’re mixing with the big boys.

Then we lose 1-0 to Augsburg. My mistake is probably fielding the same team which relied on a last-minute winner to beat Frankfurt, with the exception of Friedl and Langkamp coming in for Augustinsson and Moisander. The attack is equally useless, only this time our defence doesn’t get away with it, Michael Gregoritsch gives Augsburg the lead as he sweeps in a cross from Caiuby. A disallowed goal is the best we manage from the whole game, though the ball ricochets off an obviously offside Paulo Vitor before Kruse pokes home and it’s correctly not given.

The game is quickly forgotten by myself, partly because I very much want to forget it, but because a few things behind the scenes need to be taken care of. Firstly, Gondorf comes to see me about his lack of game time despite starting the last two – however this isn’t enough for him after previous concerns. Ultimately, he isn’t going to play ahead of Eggestein, Novais, Junuzovic or Delaney, so I commit to selling him at the end of the season.

Onto more exciting matters and it’s the time for our annual youth intake. My head of youth development, Björn Schierenbeck, excitedly announces the new arrivals and suggests that we may even have a ‘golden generation’ on our hands.

It’s certainly an exciting group, though maybe not enough players of true top potential to be classed as such. Torkaman, Büser, Farke and Mazurkiewicz are the four stand-outs to watch in future.

Our next match is upon us and we’re back against Energy Drink Leipzig. Our first game against them was a particularly humiliating 5-0 defeat at home, so we’re keen to get revenge. Despite this, realistically I know we’re probably going to get beat again, it’s just a matter of by how much.

Naturally the 4-3-3 counter continues, though unfortunately Bauer has picked up a one game suspension after accumulating yellow cards throughout the season. Augustinsson has to play out of position on his right hand side whilst the remainder of the back four is kept the same. Novais comes back in place of Maximilian in the centre and Vitor replaces Kainz. Despite his complains, Gondorf remains a part of the starting line-up until Junuzovic’s return.

It takes roughly 10 minutes for me to write this game off. A quick double from Timo Werner gives RIP 51/49 Ownership Leipzig a 2-0 lead, both goals coming from almost identical situations as crosses from Bruma on the right-wing allow Werner to win his headers and score both times, with Veljkovic providing basically no challenge for the ball.

Nothing happens for the rest of the half and at half-time I tell them the pressure is off. They can go back out there and play with a bit of freedom, the game’s effectively gone. My absolute pessimism is rewarded with a goal in the 49th minute. Gondorf hits a shot at goal and Péter Gulácsi makes a save but can do nothing more than palm it into the path of Johannes who knocks in the rebound.

In the 52nd minutes, a corner of ours sees Kampl push Veljkovic in the box. The referee awards a penalty and my heart starts racing. The game I’ve written off is suddenly coming back to life – we could do something here. New boy Joao Novais steps up to take it and he hits it right at his bottom-right corner, only Gulácsi guesses correctly and the game is saved. My stomach churns as I revert back to pessimism.

Then, in the 73rd minute, Rashica receives the ball from Novais on the half-way line, just by the touchline. He looks up and fires a pin-point accurate ball into the path of Johannes, who has already started to make his run. He latches onto the ball with only the keeper to beat and he hits it low and hard. 2-2. I begin to celebrate wildly, the comeback was merely delayed, we’re back in this!

A minute later, Kampl plays a ball over the top of the defence and into the path of Werner. Our defence is slow to respond and he punishes us, sealing his hat-trick with a shot into the bottom corner. Elation returns to pain. The game is out of sight as Ass-and-ballsport Leipzig start playing it around the back, killing the game entirely as our tired team can’t press them into a mistake.

The 3-2 defeat sends them top and entrenches us in 10th place. Thankfully neither Wolfsburg or Hertha managed to capitalise on our loss but Mainz and Schalke widen the gap between themselves and us. There are less than ten games to go until the end of the season and the table is taking shape. We’re mid-table and it’s probably where we’ll end but the closer we can get to the European spots, the better.

Read Part 12 here!