Injuries and setbacks on the pitch: Breitenreiter is under pressure in Hoffenheim and is hoping for that all-important sense of achievement before the long winter break.
Zuzenhausen (dpa / lsw) - In the last game before the long winter and World Cup break, coach André Breitenreiter is in great demand at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Can the 49-year-old win the much-needed win on Saturday (3:30 p.m. / Sky) against the in-form VfL Wolfsburg – or will he fall into the crisis with the Kraichgauers? "Shake and bring conviction to the pitch!", Breitenreiter advised his players on Friday.
In the past eight matches in the Bundesliga, TSG has only managed one win - 3-0 at bottom side Schalke 04 almost a month ago. During the week, Hoffenheim were shaken up in the 4-2 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt. In any case, the effect of the new coach has fizzled out, absences such as that of World Cup candidate Grischa Prömel, who will be missing four to six months after his ankle fracture, and Munas Dabbur (shoulder injury) further weaken Breitenreiter's options for action. Sebastian Rudy and Stanley Nsoki, who are ill, are also likely to be missing against Wolfsburg, who have been unbeaten in seven league games.
"We haven't scored enough points from the past few games. We have to develop faster and get better," demanded captain and goalkeeper Oliver Baumann after the most recent setback. In any case, being tenth in the table has flushed his team out of the international places for the time being. The negative run is reminiscent of the winless series of nine games at the end of last season, which ultimately cost the club participation in the European Cup and head coach Sebastian Hoeneß his job.
"If we actually win the game on Saturday with a really good performance, then we'll probably all be very happy after the game," said Breitenreiter before the next appearance at the Sinsheimer Stadion. There they last scored three points in a 4-1 win against FSV Mainz 05 on September 10th. "I'm very confident, we definitely want to go into the break with a sense of achievement," emphasized Breitenreiter and tried to remain calm at the press conference. The first maxim is to defend better again.
He himself knows best that another defeat against Wolfsburg, for whom he stormed from January 1998 to November 1999, could be uncomfortable for Breitenreiter. Majority owner Dietmar Hopp had strongly criticized the professional team at the general meeting in summer and emphasized: "I still believe that we have the potential to be among the six best teams in the league." Top teams like DFB Cup winners RB Leipzig (1: 3) or Europa League winners Frankfurt were definitely a number too big for the Kraichgauer.
