Ready for more consistency

The preview for the Augsburg match
Davy Klaassen and Co. are ready for Augsburg.
preliminary report
Thursday, 30.01.2020 / 17:55

After victory in Düsseldorf, Werder wanted to follow up with a win against Hoffenheim and start a successful run to fight their way out of the danger zone from the start of the year. There’s no faulting the attitude, but it was not enough for the three points, partly due to Werder’s lack of goal threat at one end, but also due to conceding the kind of goals that you tend to concede "when you’re down there," as Florian Kohfeldt put it after the 3-0 home defeat. Werder’s head coach is well aware that there will be repercussions: "We were not unprepared for this situation. Before Christmas, it felt like we were in freefall, but that is not the case now," he explained. The plan is to not panic and show a positive reaction in Augsburg on Saturday at 15:30 CET. Against an "aggressive opponent" who are on a three-game wait for a win themselves, this will be no easy task, but Kohfeldt made clear: "The lads are ready for it."

Personnel: Head coach Florian Kohfeldt will be without Sebastian Langkamp in Augsburg. The centre-back took a knock at training on Monday and has since been suffering from knee pains. Marco Friedl will also be unavailable after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Hoffenheim. He will serve his one-match suspension on Saturday. Aside from that, the coach has all the same players as from the Hoffenheim game at his disposal for the coming weekend, plus Niklas Moisander, who returns to the squad after his yellow card suspension. 

Kohfeldt: We need to be more ruthless

Florian Kohfeldt demands more consistency from his team in both defence and attack (Photo: nordphoto).

Head coach on the game:  Our tasks aren’t getting any easier: After losing at home to Hoffenheim, Werder move on to their next opponents Augsburg, who are down there battling against relegation themselves. Augsburg are three games without a win, so will come at Werder with fire in their belly. "I’m expecting a highly aggressive opposition," said Kohfeldt at the press conference. Werder will be looking to fight against said aggression – the attitude and mind-set against Hoffenheim were up to scratch, but the output did not match the input. "We ran a lot, often had a good structure to our game – we can build on this," said Kohfeldt, but addressed the mistakes in no uncertain terms: "We were not forceful enough and we defended inconsistently;" both things to put right in Augsburg.

Augsburg = goals

Yuya Osako and Josh Sargent were the matchwinners in the previous encounter between the two sides in a 3-2 win for SVW (Photo: nordphoto).

Previous encounter: A winless run of two games to start the current season was put to an end on Matchday 3 against Saturday’s opponents. Osako’s early opener was cancelled out by Ruben Vargas just before half time, but Joshua Sargent quickly restored the Green-Whites’ lead with a stroke of genius. The 19-year-old plucked the ball out of the air following a long ball from Nuri Sahin, lobbed the Augsburg goalkeeper Koubek and met the ball at the other side to tap it home into the open goal. After the half-time break, it was Ruben Vargas who cropped up to spoil the party once again, but Osako had the final say in this game, scoring to make it 3-2 and give Werder their first and so far only home win of the season.

Goal guarantee: The goals have been flying in at the WWK Arena of late. In the last eight Augsburg home games, the crowd has enjoyed at least three goals per game. Only in Dortmund and Gladbach have there been more goals in that timeframe. Goals are to be expected – hopefully at the right end for Werder.

 
Your web browser ist outdated.
The web browser you are using is no longer supported.
Please download one of these free and up to date browsers.
Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge
Chrome Firefox Edge
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
MS Edge
Why should I use an up to date web browser?
Security
Newer web browsers provide better protection against malware, data theft and other threats to your privacy and security. Up to date browsers continuously close security holes that allow attackers to enter your computer.
New Technologies
The technologies used on modern websites are better supported by newer web browsers. This both increases functionality and improves the website layout. By benefiting from new functions and extensions you will be able to surf the web faster and easier.