Oliver Glasner on ...
…the importance of the forthcoming match: “It’s a very important game. We’re playing at home, haven’t won in a long time and want to celebrate a home victory.”
…opponents FC Augsburg: “Augsburg have failed to get a win in their last six, but they’ve been in the lead on plenty of occasions – they just couldn’t hold on until the end. They go for man-marking more or less across the whole pitch and they’ll be looking to get us involved in intensive tussles. I’m expecting a match where there won’t be many lulls – they play with a lot of pace, energy and take the direct route. With their inverted wingers and burly strikers, they have a lot of presence in the middle and look to get shots away quickly.”
...how the Eagles will approach the match: “We need to be more ambitious when facing the opponents’ goal and be prepared to take a few more risks going forward. We can’t afford to get too bogged down in simply keeping possession, and that’s something we’ve been working on this week. We want to be more purposeful, more direct and more consistent in getting the ball forward. Sometimes this might mean that a pass goes astray, but when it does come off, we’ll pose a threat. We need to free ourselves from the pressure. When you man-mark like Augsburg and lose the ball, then spaces will open up. We need to be prepared to make the most of them quickly, and be more purposeful, more direct and more consistent than we have been of late.”
We need to be prepared to make the most of them quickly, and be more purposeful, more direct and more consistent than we have been of late.
Head coach Oliver Glasner
…squad availability: “Evan Ndicka, Kristijan Jakic and Hrvoje Smolcic are still too far away, but Evan is heading in the right direction. Philipp Max has signalled that he’d like to start training with the team again, but he won’t be available for us yet on Saturday. Our medical staff are doing an outstanding job.”
…Jesper Lindström: “Jesper isn’t completely pain-free yet but was able to train and is in the squad. Evan isn’t in contention yet - maybe for Wednesday.”
…Randal Kolo Muani: “Randal has a slight adductor problems. He had to sit out Tuesday, took part on Wednesday, was given a rest today and will be back tomorrow. We expect he’ll be able to play.”
