FIRST TEAM
11/06/2014

Markus Gisdol: “I have no problem annoying the players”

On Saturday at 15:30 CET, 1. FC Köln will be the visitors to the WIRSOL Rhein-Neckar-Arena. It will be the first meeting between the two sides in nearly 1,000 days. TSG welcome a newly-promoted side, who have had a good start to the season and have looked solid at the back up until now.

Markus Gisdol on…

…the opponents:

The table says it all. Köln are very good at the back, but have had problems going forward. They are a side that play as a team and make it hard for every side they play. They'll be a tough nut to crack, but we want to take our own game onto the pitch. It could be tight for long periods and it could be decided by the tiniest of margins. The manager and the sporting director seem to have the tough media scene in Cologne under control and have built a good team, as they showed in the second division last season.

…his squad:

The little knocks that players picked up in the game against Gladbach shouldn't be a problem for Saturday. We'll have to keep a close eye on Kevin Volland and Sven Schipplock and we'll have to wait until after the final training session. Sejad Salihovic and Jin-Su Kim are both still out. They should both be back training in one to two weeks. Jens Grahl will also miss Saturday's game after he was concussed and suffered whiplash in the DFB Cup. Marvin Schwäbe will continue to be our number 2 goalkeeper on the bench.

…the current situation:

The loss against Gladbach hasn't changed anything within the team. We analysed the game, as we always do, and have spoken about the positives and the negatives. We were brutally punished for our mistakes and we saw that small differences in a game against such a strong team can lead to bigger things. We're talking about details such as standing 30 centimetres to either the right or left in order to be in the right place at the right time. That's detailed work, and work that we have a lot of fun doing. If these things happen then we can take a step forward. I have to annoy the players, but I have no problem doing that.

Recent encounters:

TSG and Köln have played twelve competitive games against each other, eight times in the Bundesliga, twice in the DFB Cup and twice in the second division. The record just favours the Billy Goats, with Köln winning five, TSG winning four and three games ending in a draw. What's the significance of this footballing history? To be quite honest, usually nothing. Come Saturday, 979 days will have passed since the last time these two sides met…

The opponents:

1. FC Köln have twelve points after ten games so far in the league and sit in eleventh in the Bundesliga table. That's a good amount of points for a newly-promoted side. But nevertheless, things still aren't going quite right for Köln. After beating Dortmund and Bremen, they most recently lost 1-0 to SC Freiburg at home and were booed by their own fans. Manager Peter Stöger, who is enjoying his cult status after successfully getting his side promoted last season, showed his frustration, as did some of the players. But the media in Cologne, who are usually quite tough, still had something good to say about the team, who were without long-term injured Patrick Helmes and key players Marcel Risse and Slawomir Peszko.

The key battles:

The statistics show that Köln have an average of 55% possession, which is surprising for a newly-promoted side. They have a pass-completion rate of 76%, but Stöger's side have found it hard to create goalscoring opportunities, with only 91 shots so far this season. On the other hand, TSG have tried their luck on 142 occasions. Köln have only scored seven goals so far this season, which is the 17th-best record in the league. So the key to success for TSG is to be solid at the back once more. If Süle, Strobl, Baumann & Co. can keep the opposition away from goal, then the creative TSG attack can do the rest.

Match facts and statistics »

Download Now!
Print Page to top