Steffen Baumgart and his FC professionals after the last home game of the year against Mainz. (Photo: Bucco)
1. FC Köln not only has two away games in the year-end spurt, but also two resurgent opponents in front of the chest. Without a significant increase in performance, there is a risk of direct relegation at Christmas.
Two more games – two more trips. The Bundesliga schedule, which was already a hotly debated topic around 1. FC Cologne at the start of the season, is also not doing well for the billy goats at the end of the football year. In the summer it was the difficult opening program with the start at Borussia Dortmund. Now there are two away opponents left with improving form.
The mere fact that 2023 ends with two games away from home within an English week can be seen as unfortunate from FC’s perspective. In addition, both SC Freiburg, where Cologne will be guests on Sunday afternoon, and Union Berlin, their opponents on Wednesday evening, are on the rise.
SC Freiburg and Union Berlin are on the rise
The Breisgauers are currently experiencing the best phase of a solid Bundesliga season. Christian Streich’s team scored seven points from the last three matches and remained unbeaten three times in a row for the first time this season.
Union Berlin, on the other hand, broke its unbelievable winless streak last weekend, on new coach Nenad Bjelica’s league debut, beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1. It was the Köpenick team’s first success since August, after nine bankruptcies in a row and one draw. And Union also made a good impression in the Champions League, in the 2-3 defeat against Real Madrid.
Keller: Significant improvement or defeat
Dominique Heintz said before the two duels with his former clubs: “In Freiburg it is always a difficult away game. Union won against Gladbach and played a good game against Real. These are teams with quality. But every game starts at 0-0 again, we have to accept every matchday.”
There’s no question that in order not to go into the winter break with the current ten points, we need to improve our performance compared to the 0-0 draw against Mainz. Sports director Christian Keller also believes this Radio Cologne emphasizes: “First of all, we have to go to Freiburg with full conviction and know that if we bring to the pitch what the team can bring, it will be difficult for SC Freiburg to win the game. And then we go to Union Berlin with the same attitude. Then it’s more than possible to take something away from both games – and I’m not naive, we could of course lose both games. If we don’t improve our performance significantly, that will be the case.” Then FC would probably spend Christmas in a direct relegation zone.
2023-12-15 15:00:41
#Yearend #spurt #game #plan #good
