The rather quiet time between Christmas and New Year is also a time for discussions, that has always been the case in football and it will not change. In Cologne, fans are left wondering about the line-up in goal.
When coach Steffen Baumgart calls for the start of training on 2 January, Timo Horn will most likely be back on the pitch. The 28-year-old should have finally cured his knee injury (external ligament injury) by then. Whether his recovery will mean an immediate return to goal on matchday 18, however, is far from certain. Marvin Schwäbe (26) has not shown any problems adapting to the Bundesliga, the keeper, who moved to Cologne from Danish champions Brøndby IF, was convincing and admitted after the last match of the first half against VfB Stuttgart: “Of course I want to stay in goal.
The coach is still in the finding phase. “Marvin has done very well, I am forced to consider,” said Baumgart, who has never seen Schwäbe as a mere number two, but always as Horn’s challenger. There are numbers that speak for Schwäbe. Twice this season, FC managed to keep a clean sheet in competitive matches, both times against VfB Stuttgart. Once in the cup (2:0), once in the championship (1:0) – in both games Schwäbe was in goal.
Who has a 2.92. Schwäbe, however, has only five games in the league to his name, while Horn has 12. The challenger held more balls on goal in percentage terms (68.4% vs. 61.8%), had more ball contacts (40.8 passes vs. 31.8 passes per game), but Horn played balls (31.9 metres vs. 27.2) an average of almost four metres further than his colleague, both showing a passing accuracy of around 90 per cent in their own half.
Apart from the statistics, Schwäbe also benefited from the improved performance of the entire team in the final phase of the first half of the season. And Horn, in turn, did not present himself as badly beforehand as some critics see him. Moreover, he plays an important role in the team hierarchy, underpinned his close ties to the team also with trips to all matches during the injury break. “I have the ambition to remain number one,” says the Cologne-born player. The coach will decide. And no matter what that decision will be – the discussions will continue.