It is not uncommon for 1. FC Nürnberg fans to be happy about a win for SpVgg Greuther Fürth. But on this 31st matchday, most people probably at least cheered quietly as their rivals gradually turned a 2-0 deficit into a 5-3 win, while Nuremberg lost 1-0 at home to Karlsruhe. The reason for the sudden goodwill towards Kleeblatt is the table situation of their opponents Wiesbaden. With 32 points, Wehen is in 16th place in the table. If Fürth had lost, Wiesbaden would have been quite a problem for the club. After this match day, Nuremberg is still five points clear of the relegation place – which would normally be a very comfortable cushion with three match days to go.
“Catastrophic” – Fiél takes tough measures at KSC
But nothing is normal at FCN at the moment. Especially not since the second half of the season. Only 13 points have landed in Nuremberg’s account since matchday 17. Only one team is behind them in the second half of the season – Wehen Wiesbaden and that only because of the help of their unloved neighbors.
The current form is particularly worrying. FCN hasn’t won in six games, only got one point during this time, conceded 14 goals and didn’t score a goal of their own in all of their defeats. Coach Cristian Fiél, who was still celebrating in the first half of the season, seems to be finding it increasingly difficult to get through to the team. And so he resorted to a blatant tactic in the 0-1 defeat against Karlsruhe: he replaced four players at half-time. “Of course I’m disappointed. Another word wouldn’t be appropriate. When things don’t go well in football, it’s always about attitude. The first half was catastrophically bad,” said Fiél after the game.
Uzun: An 18-year-old savior in crisis mode
One of the four players substituted: Can Uzun. Until recently, the youngster stood for the inspiring youth style that the club proclaimed. He has now been waiting for a goal for four games and can rarely connect with the game on the pitch. But to attribute the crisis to an 18-year-old would not only be unfair, it would also be simply wrong, after all, Uzun is the FCN’s top scorer this season with 15 goals and contributed significantly to the only point win in the 3-3 draw against Hertha BSC with two goals in the recent past.
Hecking supports Fiél
Hecking, he announced in an interview before the game, definitely wants to hold on to Fiél in the final spurt of the season – even in the face of the ongoing rumors about attempts by Hertha to poach him. And Hecking himself is also facing increasing headwinds, with posters calling for the 59-year-old to resign several times in the stadium. However, the sports director is convinced that the FCN will recover and can avoid going into the 3rd league.
Difficult remaining program of the FCN: Is help coming from Fürth?
The best argument for this is the five points that FCN still has as a cushion. However, it is at least questionable whether 37 points are enough to prevent relegation. Nuremberg urgently needs to score points in the coming games. But that will be anything but easy. There are difficult games ahead with Fortuna Düsseldorf (3rd place in the table) and SV Elversberg (10th) before they face HSV (4th) on the 34th matchday to end the season.
Nuremberg should score again as quickly as possible. Otherwise you will have to rely on your unloved neighbor in the coming weeks. With Braunschweig, Magdeburg and Schalke, they are all playing their last three games against FCN’s immediate neighbors in the table. And after all, no one at FCN wants to celebrate Fürth’s goals.
2024-04-28 22:05:44
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