The professionals of the 1st FC Köln came on Wednesday with a one -hour delay on the training ground. The reason for this was a critical pronunciation within the team.
In bright sunshine, numerous fans of the 1st FC Köln at Geißbockheim had gathered on Wednesday morning to watch their stars at the last public training session of the week and to get one or the other photo or autograph. Until the fans got to see the players, the followers had to be patient.
The second unit of the preparation week was actually scheduled for the away game at SSV Ulm for 10.30 a.m. But even three quarters of an hour later, the team of coach Gerhard Struber was not yet visible. The first players only stepped on the lawn at 11.30 a.m. before the training could start first afterwards at the Geißbockheim.
However, the reason for the approximately one -hour delay was not an intensive video analysis of the third away loss of the second half of the season in Karlsruhe. Rather, the players had come together for an unscheduled internal meeting to talk together about the past unsuccessful games.
Goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe explained the previous team discussion as follows after the approximately one-half hour training session: “If you notice something, you should address it. No matter where, in which company or which team, it is good if you look back here and there what was and what the current state is.”
The 29-year-old keeper with over 250 professional duty is one of the very experienced players in the Cologne squad and has already witnessed numerous crises. Accordingly, he is responsible for taking responsibility in the current phase. However, the native Hesse also said: “A team should be mature, everyone should contribute their part. It doesn’t matter whether you have 200 or only five games. If you notice something, you should address it.”
In principle, however, there is a good climate within the team, as Schwäbe revealed. “We are open, honest and critical with each other. We know that it didn’t go well in the last games and try to drive ourselves forward to do better performance again.” For FC it is already the second sporting crisis of the season. Already in autumn it had become louder after two clear defeats in a row. As a result, Gerhard Struber had changed the system, turned on some set screws and brought the team back on track.
You are currently not that far. Slipping into fifth place and the weakest second division offensive in the second half of the season is already an alarm signal. Marvin Schwäbe was still confident on Wednesday for the upcoming tasks. “We are within reach and if we score the three points at the weekend, it looks different again,” said the goalkeeper with a view of the table, which is currently only one point behind leaders Hamburg shows.
At the relegation -threatened SSV Ulm, the number one of the FC is “not a nice game” and “a fight, as is common in the 2nd league.” At the latest in the Danube Stadium, it is time for FC professionals on Saturday to show whether the team in the team has carried fruit.