Felix Uduokhai’s run of bad luck continues. The FC Augsburg defender suffered a muscle injury in his thigh during Wednesday’s training session
In the past few days, Uduokhai was still in great spirits in training. The anticipation of the English week, starting with the duel against his former club, was evident. But when FCA host VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday, the centre-back will miss the reunion with his old colleagues on the pitch. Uduokhai is also not yet an option for the other games next week on Wednesday against Mainz and on Saturday at FC Bayern. For the second time this season.
First, the U-21 European champion missed almost the entire first half of the season due to a torn tendon in his thigh. Then, shortly before his comeback, a corona illness put him out of action. Just when he had played his way back into the starting eleven, the next setback followed in the 1-0 defeat in Bielefeld at the beginning of March. However, the ligament injury suffered at the Alm turned out to be less problematic than initially feared, so that he was back on the Bundesliga pitch just two weeks later.
Coach Markus Weinzierl now has two obvious options. On the one hand, he can stick to the recently stabilising defensive three-man defence and, as in the recent 2:3 in Stuttgart, rely on Frederik Winther alongside Reece Oxford and Jeffrey Gouweleeuw. But the 21-year-old Dane was a factor of uncertainty in his fourth Bundesliga match against VfB. The week before, however, he did a solid job in Bielefeld. Nevertheless, the youngster’s use against Max Kruse and Co. remains a risk.
Return to a back four would be the alternative
The alternative is a return to a back four with the two proven regulars Oxford and Gouweleeuw in the centre. But in this basic order, FCA presented itself as anything but saddle-fast in the first weeks of the year. What also speaks against the system change: Should Daniel Caligiuri be fit again on Sunday, as expected, Weinzierl will hardly want to take his recently good track player out of the starting eleven. While the 34-year-old has repeatedly made good inroads on the right in recent weeks, the more defensively oriented position at right back suits him much less.
