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Where Cologne’s coach Steffen Baumgart can see himself confirmed

The 4-1 success in the derby against Borussia Mönchengladbach has shown: At 1. FC Köln, other players can score goals and decide games in addition to Anthony Modeste.

Dejan Ljubicic (2nd from left) and Ondrej Duda (front): Two of four Cologne derby scorers.

imago images / Moritz Müller

Dejan Ljubicic gave himself a lot of presents these weeks before Christmas. First with the debut goal for Austria in the 4-1 win against Moldova, now last Saturday the goal for 1. FC Köln against Borussia Mönchengladbach. For FC, this was followed by hits from Mark Uth, Ondrej Duda and Sebastian Andersson and in the end not only was the 4-1 win in the derby against Borussia Mönchengladbach, but the certainty: FC can also score if Anthony Modeste goes empty-handed or not on the pitch.

The motto: Straight into the opponent’s penalty area

The Frenchman had scored almost half of all goals until last Saturday for the billy goats, who in some games this season gave the impression of being able to do a lot – just not goals. In contrast, coach Steffen Baumgart knew that “the boys will reward each other at some point” and he urged them not to stray from the path that always leads straight to the opposing penalty area. So the hits in the derby also fell, but not only because of the gross blunders by Florian Neuhaus and Nico Elvedi, who each served the ball to size to Mark Uth and Ondrej Duda. Ljubicic scored the 1-0 after a thousand times trained standard attack on the left, the 4-1 by Andersson was prepared by substitute Louis Schaub with a tailor-made cross.

This move was practiced again and again, and these hits were by no means accidental. It was more of a coincidence that they didn’t fall in the games before. And this also applies to the goals to 2: 1 and 3: 1. The shooters benefited from the Gladbacher’s mistakes. But these mistakes also had to do with the stress that Cologne put their opponents under. It was important to “attack further up front” after the guests had equalized, praised the coach after the game, knowing full well that bad passes and ricochets open up more opportunities for a personal conclusion with every meter closer to the opposing goal. The success proves the Cologne team is right and the trainer sees himself confirmed. Other players can also decide games; there is no dependency on Modeste. Which does not mean that the veteran is not allowed to score in the upcoming games.

Hector is on the brink

The action of captain Jonas Hector on Saturday at the Bielefelder Alm is still uncertain. The left-back had to give up on Saturday after a strong performance after 51 minutes, a precautionary measure – a muscle in his thigh had closed. The ex-international missed training on Tuesday, with three more units on the program until Saturday.

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