Ruprecht Prusseit’s decision to drop back down to Regionalliga Nordost paid off as he led Energie Cottbus to a league and cup double in 2030. He now faced a stiff challenge to rebuild a threadbare squad and keep Cottbus safe in 3. Liga.
Even more exciting news was that Prusseit passed his Continental A Licence over the summer, which suddenly had him looking like a half-decent Football Manager.
However, it wasn’t all good news as Cottbus were suddenly struggling financially, heading into the new season with minus £800k in the bank. That was largely due to a fairly significant outstanding debt, but could have some effect on Prusseit’s plans to rebuild his squad.
Cottbus released 23 players, including one of their star men Stefen Tigges, as the new season ticked around on 1 July 2030, which slashed £20k off their weekly wage spending. That left Prusseit with 10 players and one week before the season kicked off he had just 16! But he gradually rebuilt the squad after a raft of trialists and disappointment at missing out on targets.
Prusseit was most excited about signing midfielder Christoph Geppert on a free transfer. And frees were the name of the game as he also drafted in Porto striker Tiago Sousa, who he planned to convert into a right-winger, and Hamburg’s versatile striker/midfielder Onur Kurtulus. He then turned to loans, starting with a familiar face in his former Rostock II defender Michele Venturi, then exciting midfielder/winger Joao Soares, holding midfielder Kimmo Eskelinen and left-back Jeremias Keblowsky.
Earlier in the summer, Prusseit’s board agreed to his request for a senior affiliate club and eventually offered him four options, of which the most appropriate was fellow OstDeutscher club RB Leipzig. And Prusseit immediately took advantage by loaning in promising midfielder Phil Meyer.
With a new squad rebuilt, Prusseit had settled on changing to a more conservative 4-3-3 that he’d used in his days at Stendal and Rostock. And that was largely because last season’s top scorer Eric Hottmann was the only striker he trusted whereas he had a solid selection of midfielders.
Into The Unknown In 3. Liga
In truth, Prusseit wasn’t really sure how good the team of freebies and loanees he’d cobbled together was. However, he’d done enough to satisfy the bookies, who had Cottbus down to finish 6th in 3. Liga at 6/1 to win the league. Relegated Jahn Regensburg are favourites at 1/3 followed by Eintracht Braunschweig (8/13), Ingolstadt (11/4) and Aalen (9/2).
The season began with Prusseit’s 300th match in management as Cottbus made the trip to Victoria Köln, where the more conservative formation earned them a solid 0-0. The first game at Eduard Geyer Arena saw another solid defensive effort and a much more impressive attacking effort. Arnel Kujovic opened the scoring early on before Sousa bagged his first two goals for the club late on.
There was more of the same at Frankfurt II, as Hottmann got his first goal of the season alongside a Daniel Klug penalty and a late strike by Micael Sanhá sealed a 3-1 win. The new approach was working a treat as they conceded just once in their first three games. And that was extended as Hottmann hit top form with all four goals against Stuttgart II.
A first defeat followed at Duisburg as Hottmann picked up a month-long injury. The two league favourites followed but his replacement Richard Busche scored as Meyer got his first for the club in a wild 3-3 with Ingolstadt before a narrow 1-0 loss at Jahn Regensburg, which gave Prusseit plenty of optimism about their chances.
Prusseit’s Highest Profile Cup Game
After a good DFB-Pokal cup run last year, Prusseit and his board were hopeful of another to bring in some much-needed money. They began in the first round at home to 2. Bundesliga side 1860 München and Kujovic hit a beauty in the 76th minute to nick a 1-0 win. However, they were unlikely to go much further as they drew the highest-profile game of Prusseit’s career so far at home to Bayer Leverkusen in round two. They performed admirably against a substantially better team but fell to a narrow defeat through a goal just after the break.
An Enforced Tactical Rethink
Cottbus’ solid start to the season was disrupted by some odd shenanigans. Venturi and Soares suddenly had their loans cancelled by their parent clubs because they were “unhappy with the position they were playing in” despite giving Prusseit zero warning! Luckily, he managed to agree a deal to bring Venturi back but Soares kicked off two days after the transfer deadline. That forced Prusseit into a tactical rethink, using a strange narrow 4-2-2-2 that maximised his side’s midfield strength.
The enforced formation change worked out fairly well with a draw at Nürnberg and a five-game winless streak continued with a fairly impressive 3-3 at Braunschweig. But they soon kicked into life with new strikeforce Sousa and Hottmann both scoring in a 3-1 win at Hertha II and Kujovic bagging a brace that took him past his goal tally of last season in a 4-0 thumping of Aalen. Sousa then scored both in a 2-1 win at Stuttgarter Kickers. And that little flurry of wins lifted Cottbus all the way up to 2nd place, just one point behind leaders Ingolstadt.
They maintained that run as Sousa scored the only goal at home to Mönchengladbach II then scored again in a 2-0 win at Zwickau, which sent Cottbus top of 3. Liga for the first time. Sousa was really excelling in his natural role, as he bagged a hat-trick to down Ahlen 4-0 and came 2nd in the November player of the month award.
December began with a big game for Prusseit as he returned to former employers Hansa Rostock II, who were deep in relegation trouble, for the first time. And he gave them a taste of what they were missing out on as Sousa scored two more before a late Busche strike sealed a dominant 3-0 win.
His side passed a big test of their credentials as Bayern II come to town and were brushed aside as Hottmann slide Sousa in to score the only goal after 34 minutes. And 2030 was wrapped up with a 1-1 draw at home to Victoria Köln, which left Cottbus’ two games short of the all-time 3. Liga record for most successive wins of 10 set by Karlsruhe in 2013.
But it kept Prusseit’s side top of 3. Liga going into the winter break. They topped the table on goal difference tied with Ingolstadt on 42 points after 20 games with a five-point gap back to 3rd-place Jahn Regensburg. Sousa is flourishing up front, leading the league with 17 goals, a 7.52 average rating and six player of the match awards. And goalkeeper Rezart Zeqiri leads the way with nine clean sheets in 15 appearances.
Prusseit was a little taken aback by his team’s impressive performance given how much of a struggle it had been just to get a squad together. But the team was looking good in the new formation and he was optimistic about taking a title fight to Ingolstadt.
Could Cottbus push for unlikely back-to-back promotions? Join us on Monday to find out!
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