Energie Cottbus - Fortuna Düsseldorf

Important match for both sides as they are in relegation battle. Ok, Cottbus much more as they are at the bottom of the table and they have already a big gap to close while Düsseldorf showed some uptrend above all in their last match against Kaiserslautern where they played really good away from home and allowed not much. This can be a good preparation for Cottbus as well as they must not change their style of play what Coach Reck has worked out. On the other side Schmidt stands under huge pressure after he took over he won nothing. He stands on the sideline since 4 matches but all were lost and the team looked very weak at the moment.

But the bad news are coming not to an end at Cottbus. They must win this encounter here to get some hope back before the winter break. But with a lot of players unavailable it looks like this can be very hard for them anyway. Two important guys are suspended after booking his fifth yellow card last match to Ingolstadt with Stiepermann and Banovic. Nevertheless this is not the last bad news as with Bohl, Rivic and Fomitschow must pass more players. Therefore Coach Schmidt must build up a new starting lineup but the alternatives are less and he can count only on players who are available. In this case he must count on players who are out of form like Sanogo and Jendrisek and also on a very unstable defensive line. Not the best sign for the team on the bottom of the table.

On the other side Fortuna is on the way back to get better into the season after Büskens was sucked. Keeper Coach Reck took over and he made a good job so far and maybe he is the man for more after the winter break, nevertheless he fights for his chance here. He was also on the sideline for some time in Duisburg and to beginning he made also a good job but was sucked then. Although some players are not available here he can count almost on the same eleven as on monday. This win gave them a lot of self confidence and trust in them back.