After Jusuf Gazibegovic’s serious injury, 1st FC Köln has to be creative. Gerhard Struber is now planning in the right-back position.
How does the 1. FC Köln react to his “slap in the face”? For example, coach Gerhard Struber described the syndesmoseriss of winter access Jusuf Gazibegovic. Due to the ankle injury suffered in the 2-1 victory against Darmstadt, the 25-year-old threatens the early end of the season-which Struber gives one or the other worries.
After all, Gazibegovic, which the Austrian had once trained in the youth area in Salzburg, is the only trained right -back in the Cologne squad. “It hurts us,” Struber does not make a secret of his frustration and at the same time goes in search of alternatives: “Now it means to be creative. We will try something on Thursday.”
Then FC meets the SC Verl. At 2 p.m. in Cologne Südstadion, the game against the third division team comes for Struber at the right time to venture into a right-back experiment: “We try Joel Schmied in the position and see how he is doing there. I have confidence that he can do it with his dynamics.”
Central defender Schmied, committed to FC Sion from Switzerland in winter, has so far been used in Cologne without exception on his regular position in the defense center. “Let’s see what a feeling I get”, Struber is now an attempt as a right-back and adds: “We will try one or the other. This also has to do with whether we are playing three or four chains.”
Schmied is probably only a serious alternative as a right -back if the FC uses a chain of four. A chain of three, clearly favored in the past few months, is likely to be flanked by a trained winger.
Before Gazibegovic’s obligation, Jan Thielmann had taken on this job-rather reluctantly, because the U21 international feels much more comfortable on the offensive as a right wing or right striker and recently convinced with a template in Ulm and a goal against Darmstadt.
“Jan brings a lot with it whether it is more defensive or aggressive on the wing,” Struber is open to all options, but also knows: “Of course, in the last two games, he has shown us that he can take an offensive huge impact on our game. At the moment we all see that he feels very comfortable there.” This sounds that the FC coach would like to continue to bend the Cologne-based own plant in the attack, but possibly struber are bound by the lack of alternatives to the role of the role as a Gazibegovic representative.
In addition to the two variants mentioned – a chain with a blacksmith and a chain of three with Thielmann – it may still be conceivable that Struber has one of his left -backs (Max Finkgräfe or Learst Pacarada) changed. In addition, Dejan Ljubicic had acted as a right rail player in the first half of the season. In any case, the FC trainer promises: “We find a solution.”