Offenbach – Angelo Barletta doesn’t like to think back to that cold, wet day eleven months ago. “Those are not good memories,” said the 43-year-old about December 14, 2019. Barletta made his debut as coach of Offenbacher Kickers. The OFC was the favorite in the Hessen Cup at FC Gießen and lost 1-0. Tomorrow evening (7 p.m.) both teams will meet again in Offenbach. This time they play in points in the regional soccer league southwest.
It is also about revenge for the cup defeat, clarifies Barletta. But above all it is about showing a reaction after the first defeat of this season (0: 1 at SSV Ulm 1846). “We have something to make up for,” the OFC coach emphasizes. “It doesn’t matter who comes to the Bieberer Berg as an opponent.” Barletta admits to being a bad loser who cannot live well with defeat, even if you need the knowledge from such games to develop further. The bankruptcy in Ulm particularly annoyed him, “because it was avoidable”. The video analysis showed that again. “That wasn’t our best performance. But Stephan Flauder didn’t have to hold balls in rows, “said the Kickers trainer, who once again sees himself confirmed in the view that his team is still in the discovery phase:” We have a lot of mechanisms to work. We don’t need such referrals like in Ulm. “
Because Luigi Campagna is missing today after his yellow-red card, Barletta has to send another team onto the pitch again. An alternative is Tim Dierßen, who does not have a lot of match practice. He only stood on the pitch for 91 minutes this season. “It is a disappointment for any footballer when he is not playing. But that should be an incentive to work even harder, ”says the 24-year-old, who played four times in the first division for Hannover 96. “I feel good physically and would be happy if I got a chance. Our clear goal is to get three points at home. And we will give everything for that. “
Left-back Ronny Marcos is also hoping for a place in the starting XI after he has served his red card suspension. “He wasn’t there for three games,” the coach refuses to commit. Marcos definitely offers Barletta more options. He is a candidate for the back four, but can also occupy the outside lane in the system with a back three – as in December 2019 in Gießen.
Of the 18 players who were in the Kickers matchday squad at the time, eleven have since left the club. But a lot has happened with the opponent as well. “Gießen had a lot of inflows and outflows,” says Barletta, who knows FC coach Daniyel Cimen (former OFC second division professional) “very well”: “I know what he values. It lets you play well-groomed football. ”In the table, Mittelhessen (seven points) have a relegation zone, but have played two games less due to a Corona break (one player tested positive for Covid-19).
With which formation Barletta will face Giessen, he will only decide on the match day. Most recently, he had backed a triple chain twice in a row – against Alzenau (3-0) with success, as he emphasized. And in Ulm too, despite the 1-0 defeat, he was “satisfied with the defensive network. But we had too little penetration forward ”. Especially since the outside and the central players were too seldom to develop. One who could change that is Marco Fritscher, who made his debut in Ulm as a substitute after a long injury break and, according to Barlette, is already a candidate for the starting XI: “He brought in so much vigor from the start that I couldn’t get past it to take it with you. “
Barletta feels that the fact that the Kickers have to play completely without spectators for the first time this season due to the coronavirus, i.e. not even the previous minimum of 100 is allowed, is “very bitter – for the fans and for us. We live from this home advantage. But that shouldn’t be an excuse. We definitely have a duty ”. (By Christian Düncher)
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