Greuther Fürth - 1.FC Köln

With Coach Kramer, success is back !!!

This match between Greuther Fürth and 1.FC Cologne should have been a top match but it looks more that we do not have this at the moment. Both are promotion candidates before the season but only relegated Greuther Fürth can say this with 4 wins in a row they are on top while Cologne got 3 draws and celebrated their first win last weekend but they were in all their matches not very good, of course Fürth was it too but they got the points. If Cologne do not want to open the gap to nine points it is very important to get a result here or they should win. This can put them in a better position while Fürth with a win is on top for longer.

Ok, Fürth won in Karlsruher but Coach Kramer was not very pleased with the performance from his team, only with the result. He said: If we have lost this, it has been ok anyway. According to this bad performance the focus was huge on this trainings week and he wants to prepare for more stability in his team and defensive as well. So this can be that some of the players who were starters last weekend are on bench this time. First one can be that Fürstner is out of the starting lineup and Brosinski returns on the wing because Fürstner could not convince much there. Also Tom Weilandt who played great as offensive wing against Kaiserslautern move back to his normal position after playing behind the lone striker against KSC. Beside striker Azemi there are some options, if they play with him alone and one player behind him or Kramer wants to put one beside him. Very open at the moment but Drexler was the winning goal scorer vs. KSC or Pledl is also an option but both are more midfield players. The only striker left is Mudrinski and he showed his level already against Kaiserslautern where he scored the winning goal but Coach Kramer said that he has some fitness problems and is not at 100% at the moment.

Many problems in Cologne again also with new Sportmanager Schmadtke and new Coach Stöger. Some days ago Stöger said that his team is not a promotion candidate if he look at the performances they had in the past matches. A lot of work to do for him and his team to bring Cologne back and also to a good level according to their play it is very hard to see them winning because they create less and also score less, this is one of the key facts and problems they had and have. Overall they have to improve in all positions and if they want to start a run they must do it against an direct rival today. This is the right time to show their strength. A lot of changes on the wing was made by Stöger, he let play Bröker, Thiel and Exslager on this position but no one could convince so far and it looks like that new signing who is on loan from Parma Peszko plays from beginning today. He knows Cologne very well after he was some years there already. Maybe some other options with Gebhardt and Halfar are also possible but overall the first one looks more acceptable for Stöger. And up front he plays with two strikers as he did against Sandhausen.