Friday, March 6, 2009

Geißböcke prey upon Schalke's troubles

It wasn't too long ago that naysayers talked of Köln's chances of being relegated as likely. Sitting mid of the table, die Geißböcke are unbeaten in the Rückrunde and the "critics" have disappeared as Christoph Daum has the team playing well-disciplined Football, with an ever increasing confidence.

Following the victory over Bayern München, the club responded with a strong performance against Arminia Bielefeld in which they dominated play but were simply unable to finish. Facing Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, Christoph Daum knows the intangible side of die Königsblauen as following their mid-week loss in the DFB-Pokal they will be anxious to win in front of their home fans and stem the general revolt.

Milivoje Novakovič returns and Herr Daum specifically singled out the service of Marvin Matip and Fabrice Ehret, who continued their superb work last week with a great week of practice. Stressing shape and disciplined defending Christoph Daum is very aware of Schalke's potential and extra motivation for the match.

Photo Source: FC Köln(Herbert Bucco)