After 15 months again from the beginning
Even if the 1-1 draw against FC Augsburg hardly gave 1.FC Köln any relief in their fight against relegation, it at least brought some hope in terms of play. For the Domstadt team, this was mainly due to Mark Uth’s first starting eleven since the end of July 2022 (5:6 nE in the cup against Regensburg). The routine and playing ability of the 32-year-old attacker had an impact on the performance of his teammates and the entire offensive game – only the goals were missing in the end. With regard to the expectations of the ex-national player, the FC wants to “leave the church in the village,” as licensing department manager Thomas Kessler emphasized (quoted via “Kicker“).
“He was out for an extremely long time. There is no question that he gives our game a footballing component that is extremely important,” said Kessler about Uth, who scored the goal in the cup loss against Kaiserslautern (2:3) during the week. It was his first goal since the Regensburg game on July 30th last year. “We thought a lot about whether he was ready to play. We hope that he will work his way into the team little by little. “He has the quality to be an important pillar for us over the course of the season,” said Kessler. Uth should be built carefully.
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The Cologne native was self-critical after the final whistle and admitted that it was very difficult for him to get into the game: “Many balls flew over me and I often slipped. So in my opinion I was very bad at the game. I saved my game again in the second half, I was much, much better at it.” Coach Steffen Baumgart emphasized that there was a difference between playing from the start and like in the games against FCK and RB Leipzig (0:6) when “the opponent is perhaps tired”.
In the TM community, users honored Uth for his convincing comeback in the starting line-up. “I only saw the second half and therefore only a few minutes from Uth, but he is simply a great footballer. “I would begrudge him and us if he lasted through the season,” wrote “Mr Ripley.” User “Brownie72” said: “I’m a fan of his too. He also has good decision making. When you see how he puts things on Waldschmidt. Has his head up and doesn’t blindly hit the balls anywhere.” And “Kingsize” emphasized: “It’s nice that he’s back. The first half was ‘weak’ or rather ‘unremarkable’, but the second half had a lot of good ideas. He’s going to be very important and I’m glad he’s there. Hopefully he stays injury-free.”
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