The 1. FC Köln trembles unnecessarily in the promotion struggle. The FC misses a huge chance against Hertha BSC and now has to change something.
At SC Paderborn, 1st FC Köln achieved an important victory, also because coach Gerhard Struber inevitably relied on a defensive orientation with an emergency team. Against Hertha BSC, however, the Austrian tried this tactical concept again – and failed.
In Paderborn with a chain of five to position itself on the penalty area, in order to give the opponent as little space as possible, it made sense. Especially because the billy goats had to complain about many failures. In the following home game, however, in front of 50,000 fans despite several returnees, the wrong signal was.
The Hertha played aggressively and brave, while FC concentrated on defending. If both teams had played in neutral jerseys, one would not have come up with the idea that 1. FC Köln is the leaders and the Hertha is stuck in the lower third of the table.
On the contrary: the Berliners played like a candidate for promotion, but the FC did not play like a host who could have brought about the preliminary decision in the fight for Bundesliga return. Because nothing else would have meant a threesome, and so it was all the more surprising that the FC only dropped its destructive tactics after the deficit.
Of course, it is true that the 1. FC Köln has long driven to stand out in the defense this season, to secure it in defense and only then to strike ice cold in the attack. Therefore, coach Struber will not completely move away from this route in the last six season games. But there is a lot of space between a defense bulwark and Harakiri – and so the FC would do a little more courage and offensive.
Especially since the next two opponents Fürth (Table-14.) And Münster (table 15.) Are called. These opponents mean for FC: six points are mandatory. If you want to ascend, you have to win such duels in the final sprint of the season. But it takes more than just a good defensive. This gains a proverb for championships, but to win over individual games, the offensive is also needed.
It is good that Tim Lemperle and Damion Downs are now the two best strikers of the billy goats fit again. Now Struber has to bring them together, maybe even together with Sturmtank Imad Rondic. It would be a signal that the FC no longer only wants to deal with the games bureaucratically, but also want to win convincingly.
Against the Hertha, the billy goats missed the necessary characters. You should have signaled to the competition: we can no longer let the butter take our bread from bread. Instead, the impression came up as if the FC wanted to tremble the climb. But that, so much became clear on Saturday, will not work. A healthy mixture of defensive stability and offensive courage is now needed. Then the FC will keep its four points of the four points and ascend.