Kiel and Cologne in relegation: game of fear for the Bundesliga

Ole Werner tapped his forefinger on his temple.

The Holstein Kiel coach wanted to emphasize the importance of the head for this relegation.

Werner spoke resolutely to his assembled team, which had just won the first leg in the duel for the last remaining place in the Bundesliga in Cologne with 1-0.

He later explained that he “gave an outlook”.

The only 33-year-old soccer teacher wanted to give his team the right thoughts in the shower.

Because the competition of the minds, which characterizes this relegation, is going a new round in Kiel - to avoid riots outside, 2350 expectant spectators will be allowed.

Werner reported that he had asked his team to remain “relaxed”: “The roles are clearly assigned, as before.

We can, the others have to. ”Under all circumstances, the trainer wants to combat the fearful feeling of being able to lose something.

The ability not to cramp up

Under the influence of such fears, the team had already lost the final second division games in Karlsruhe and against Darmstadt when only one victory would have been necessary to complete the promotion. In the second leg against Cologne on Saturday (6:00 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and at DAZN) even a draw is enough, so Fin Bartels also emphasized what the Kielers want to tell themselves: “We still have nothing to lose, even if the first one Stage has now worked out well. ”The ability not to cramp could be the decisive factor in the second leg.

As a result, Cologne coach Friedhelm Funkel announced that in the days leading up to the final game of his long career he would “put positive things into perspective” and “appeal to the strengths of the individual players”. But the pressure is huge. Everyone involved knows that the seventh relegation would be a moderate disaster for the economically troubled club.

Because at the end of the pandemic there is hardly any financial leeway, which leads to a bitter realization: FC would not be able to return to the Bundesliga this time with superior economic strength alone.

The already complicated second division with Bremen, Schalke, HSV and various other ambitious clubs in the coming year will be more challenging than ever before.

More specifically than ever before, the fate of HSV threatens the Cologne team, which has failed for the third time in its attempt to return to the Bundesliga.

The nerves are on edge

Jonas Hector was probably also aware of all this when he let himself be carried away to an extremely angry TV interview on Wednesday, in which it became clear how nervous the nerves are. A reporter wanted to know whether he was “empty” after this painful defeat, whereupon Cologne's captain complained about the “shitty questions” he had to answer. “It's your job to ask stupid questions. You're doing well. ”Before that, Hector had said that a“ draw would have been fair ”in this first leg, which was not entirely wrong considering the few chances in front of both goals.

However, the Kielers had managed to do much better what they had set out to do. "The key was the passion with which we defended," said coach Werner. On this basis, his team then "used the opportunities that were offered offensively to achieve deals relatively well". In the second half, the Kielers became more and more stable, they grew from the increasing despair in Cologne.

And after a corner, a few seconds earlier substitute Simon Lorenz headed the 0: 1 (59th minute).

Janni Serra was unlucky a little later with a header on the crossbar (78th).

The promotion aspirant from the second division had the clearer plan and implemented it cleverly.

The FC, however, once again tormented themselves with the massive footballing weaknesses of this squad, which are always visible when an opponent is well organized.

"Nothing has been decided yet"

The willingness to work was not the problem, the Cologne team had also fought with a lot of passion. But the actions of people like Marius Wolf, Ondrej Duda, Ismail Jakobs or Salih Özcan too often lack calm and structure. "We didn't create enough chances to score from our abundance of ball possession," Funkel complained. The lack of playful quality is a permanent problem, only Ellyes Skhiri and Hector find relatively reliable playful solutions in the areas around the opponent's penalty area.

However, no one will be able to fix these weaknesses before the showdown not far from the Danish border, so that the Cologne team will have to draw their hopes again from the mental constellation. In the end, one of the strengths of this team has been to win again and again at exactly the moment when they have their backs against the wall. "We are now at halftime, and it is 1-0 for Kiel," said Funkel. "Nothing has been decided yet."