The finale to an intensive week

This is the biggest challenge of the week for manager Markus Babbel: “For me it's the hardest of the three games. Sure Augsburg have only picked up one point so far, but it could easily have been more. They've had some bad luck in terms of getting points and now they want to win even more”, warned Babbel in his press conference on Thursday. “It demands everything of you and the team, as well as the fans, have to build unity. These games especially can be very tough and require solidarity. We're coming up against a side that have a great deal of team spirit, so we all have to hold firm and make sure we don't give them an inch”, said the manager, including the supporters in his call for determination.

A few question marks

Just as they were for the game against Stuttgart, Chris and Tim Wiese are unavailable, but there are three new players who have question marks over their fitness after picking up knocks in the mid-week game. Daniel Williams has bruised his big toe, Takashi Usami has bruised his right knee cap and Boris Vukcevic has a knee irritation. Whether these three will be fit in time for Saturday is yet to be known. Babbel emphasised though, that he is fortunate to have so many good players available in the squad, all of whom are keen to play. The speed in which the substitutes integrated themselves in the game, as well as how excited the bench was, is something important to Babbel. “The fact that everyone works together happily and we function as a team has pleased me immensely.” Babbel sees the two consecutive wins as a product of the team's hard work, something they have finally been rewarded for. Therefore, it makes sense to build on this and, hopefully, rake in the next reward for their efforts on Saturday.

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