Faride Alidou has been a player at 1. FC Köln since Monday. On Tuesday, the loan from Eintracht Frankfurt completed its first session at Geißbockheim. But what role does the winger play in the game against Wolfsburg on Saturday?
Will he already start for FC on Saturday? Farid Alidou. IMAGO/Herbert Bucco
He defuses the Cologne bottleneck on the offensive at least a little. Faride Alidou trained with his new colleagues for the first time on Tuesday. The loan, for which FC has a purchase option, but Eintracht can also activate a buyback clause, ensures that coach Steffen Baumgart can immediately bring significantly more speed to the pitch on the offensive.
That was what was missing in the end. Baumgart even explicitly criticized this in Osnabrück. After all, FC lacked an essential element when advancing after extra time, namely the pace via the offensive half positions in 4-1-3-2.
He has a lot of what we envisioned: good speed, a robust player.
In principle, Alidou will certainly be able to alleviate this need. The former HSV professional is an extremely explosive player. “He has a lot of what we imagined: good speed, a robust player,” says Baumgart, “we’ll see everything else then.”
But when is it then? Cologne’s coach doesn’t rule out anything categorically – as with the tense situation in attack – but the tendency is clearly towards the 22-year-old sitting on the bench against Wolfsburg for the time being.
“At least I don’t have the plan for him to play from the start,” explains Baumgart, “I don’t see him starting in the next week or two. But I’m not setting that in stone. If everything goes well, it will be in the squad for Saturday.”
Baumgart outlines the area of use of the right-footed player relatively clearly. “I see him in both positions. I haven’t decided on that. In Hamburg he mainly came from the left, but that doesn’t mean he can’t come from the right with us.”
With Alidou, who not only hits the ground quickly, but can also accelerate with the ball at his foot in one-on-ones and is a good dribbler, the range in the Cologne storm expands. However, he is far from a mature player.
One thing is clear: once Alidou has found a sporty position at FC, Baumgart has the opportunity, with him and Linton Maina, who still has to work off his training deficit, to bring two extremely fast attackers over the outside. An element that could pose problems for some opponents.
Baumgart demands patience
But until then, not only because of Maina’s pent-up demand, time will pass. Alidou first has to get used to the processes. “We should also give him the time,” warns Baumgart and demands patience with the new: “We shouldn’t expect everything right away.” Rather, it is about Alidou “can be a good factor during the season”. And as a joker maybe on Saturday.
2023-08-22 18:16:29
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