1.FC Köln - Union Berlin

Round 23 and it is an important one for 1.FC Köln because with a win they can close the gab almost to Kaiserslautern and put additional huge pressure on them. But also Union is in a good position and with a win they can overcome Köln today and hold some promotion things alive, although it would be a surprise if they can catch Kaiserslautern but the chances are there anyway. But home team speaks more from promotion as Union and therefore they must bring something today and continue their run from 10 matches without a lose.

One may be curious what eleven Stanislawski will field. Sure they won 1-0 on monday evening against St. Pauli but their play was not very good and they missed a lot of their good counter attacks as they were not able to bring it to an successful end. They waste a lot and it was not  worthy for a promotion contender. After Stanislawski was not very pleased about this and what he has seen he maybe thing about to change his system to 4-2-3-1 with one creative player in the midfield to bring more power in the offense actions. Some candidates are Bigalke and Jajalo while Stefan Maierhofer move back to bench in this case. The Austrian striker was very motivated but his fitness level is not the best what all saw on monday. Also one change in defensive midfield is possible where Lehmann had again a weak performance and this can help Matuschyk into the starting lineup. Strobl should be set on sixer position as he made a good match.

Union Berlin came back to the place where they very absolutely trashed and conceded their biggest disaster. Season 02/03 they lost 0-7 there. In this case they have to do something well. But overall they looked not very good against Ingolstadt and had a lot of luck because Ingolstadt played very well although they were without several players but Union were not able to use this. Coach Neuhaus has additional problems with players who are ill or injured. Therefore Kohlmann and Mattuschka are not available today. So, the back row must be changed again. Schönheim moves on back wing while Stuff gets the position in central back. For Mattuschka maybe Jopek is an option and also Quiring could displace Zoundi who was not in his best shape last match.