Keeper Marius Funk is again available to FCI trainer Michael Köllner. Photo: Bösl
The starting position in the 3rd division has not changed much for FC Ingolstadt after the 0:2 against VfB Oldenburg in twelfth place and seven points ahead of the first relegation zone (SpVgg Bayreuth, 31 points) compared to the Easter weekend.
However, last Saturday brought a change for the Schanzer: the first setback after the “upward trend” and the two victories when Michael Köllner took office. But the defeat was “done. Now we want to develop enthusiasm for the new season in the remaining games,” said the new FCI coach before the game this Saturday at Viktoria Köln (2 p.m. / Magenta Sport).
The Ingolstadt team are still in the middle of the relegation battle and hope that the setback against the former table penultimate can also have a positive effect in a certain way. “You have to put that away. In the second half we started and fought back, but we weren’t powerful enough,” said Köllner, who spent his first full week of training with the FCI working on standard situations (already conceding ten goals this season) and playing issues . “It was good that we had time to train. I can’t just lay my hands on it. We want to move forward step by step,” said the 53-year-old from the Upper Palatinate.
Winger Marcel Costly returns to the starting XI after serving a yellow card suspension. In this regard, there are still question marks for Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Rico Preißinger. Against Oldenburg, Köllner had taken the indisposed duo off the defensive midfield after just 26 minutes and replaced them with youngsters Felix Keidel and Tim Civeja. “I was dissatisfied. I don’t make a substitution after 26 minutes just for fun,” explained the FCI coach. “Rico and Hans had the chance to prove themselves again during the training week.” Regular keeper Marius Funk, who missed the 2-0 win in the Toto Cup at ATSV Erlangen and missed Köllner’s home debut due to illness, is fit again. Deputy Markus Ponath therefore moves to the bench.
The FCI’s hospital has shrunk a little, but it is still significant: Maximilian Dittgen (thigh surgery), Visar Musliu (muscle injury), Nikola Stevanovic (ankle fracture), David Kopacz (collar fracture) and Maurice Dehler (metatarsal fracture) are out for a long time . The only hope that Köllner really has in the defense chief is that someone from this quintet will return to the team in the remaining six games in the league and the Toto Cup final at FV Illertissen (June 3, 2:30 p.m.). “Visar is making good progress. Maybe he can be back in two or three weeks.”
Köllner’s opponents Olaf Janßen and Viktoria (eighth place, 47 points) have long been free of any relegation concerns and want to play without pressure. However, the 56-year-old will have to do without Moritz Fritz this Saturday. The defender saw the red card in the Domstädter home game against MSV Duisburg (2-2) last Monday because of an emergency brake and was thrown off the pitch at the Höhenberg sports park. At the same place, Köllner dropped points for the first time with ex-employer 1860 Munich after the previously flawless start on the sixth matchday (1:1). He therefore warns: “This is an extremely strong football team, which in the winter break with Mike Wunderlich (came from second division club 1. FC Kaiserslautern; i.e. editor) got a super reinforcement. Hard work awaits us.”
The duel between the Schanzers and the Rhinelanders in the first half of the season deservedly went to the guests after many individual mistakes by the Ingolstadt team in the Audi Sportpark. The 1:3 at the end of October last year was the Schanzer’s third defeat of the season. There are now a whopping 16.
DK
