Paderborn expectedly underwent many personnel changes in the summer months after their relegation from the top flight and it took some time for the new-look squad to start playing decent football.
With 12 new faces in the ranks, Paderborn managed to win just once in the first 5 rounds, with another poor 5-game run following to end 2020 (W1 D1 L3). All this left the Blues in the bottom half of the table and from early it was clear that for them staying out of trouble will be the main priority.
Coach Baumgart continued to use aggressive tactics and this exposed Paderborn defensively way too much, but at least it gave plenty of scoring chances at the other end where summer signings Fuhrich and Justvan were the best players.
Srbeny became regular in attack not by design as the 2 main strikers Michel and Mbemba were put for sale, but also both spent the first few months of the campaign sidelined. Expectedly Srbeny’s contributions were limited with only 1 of his first 8 league goals from open play. He improved late in the season, but still didn’t impress too much.
It was decent start to 2021 (W3 D4 L1) and that accumulated enough points for Paderborn to cement their mid-table position. From March onwards Blues stopped worrying about their safety. It was calm and relaxing atmosphere for the last 10 rounds.
Summer of huge changes is on the way for Paderborn as manager for 5 years Baumgart is leaving, with captain Schonlau just 1 of many players also expected to depart. Not yet certain what Paderborn will play for next season, but it seems their goal will be to avoid relegation.
