With the Derby victory behind them, 1. FC Köln now wants to finally win away from home. Despite all the euphoria, head of defence Rafael Czichos warns against the upcoming opponents from Bielefeld.
It’s not easy to switch gears after a derby win in front of 50,000 spectators towards Bielefeld Alm, which will pretty much certainly present itself in all its loving drabness on Saturday. Rafael Czichos knows this and evokes the seriousness that is expected of professionals: “Of course the mood is relaxed after the derby win. Nevertheless, we quickly put the focus back on the game against Bielefeld. We work hard and prepare well for Arminia.”
Czichos has been around long enough to know what to expect from FC in Bielefeld: “I expect an opponent who will display a defensive attitude all over the pitch and be aggressive in the duels. They will be compact and have the means to survive a pressing game. We have to be very careful and be alert right from the start. We will not take the game lightly. Otherwise, you can quickly leave the pitch as the loser – and we certainly don’t want that. We want to take the three points back to Cologne. We want to maintain the momentum we’ve built up. “
Not going well away yet
This upswing that Czichos is talking about has not yet reached Cologne away from home. The FC lacks a sense of achievement on foreign grounds. While they have already collected 15 points in Müngersdorf, they have only managed three points away from home – despite some convincing performances. Three points, three draws, no wins – that should change. Czichos says how: “There are four games left with twelve possible points. We want to get all the points. We want to approach the games the same way we approached the derby, highly concentrated and aggressive in our style of play. We have a good chance of implementing that in the future as well.”
A start should be made in Bielefeld; with 21 points then, they would have ten points more on their account than at the same time in the previous season and a good foundation laid for the fight against relegation. The statistics, however, are not in favour of the “Geißböcke”: Bielefeld have won their last four home games against FC and in their joint Bundesliga history Arminia have only managed 12 victories against three clubs: Stuttgart, Dortmund – and Cologne.