TsG Hoffenheim once again dispatched 1. FC Köln – because they successfully exploited a weakness of Baumgart’s eleven that had been identified in advance.
Julian Nagelsmann was coach when TSG Hoffenheim celebrated their highest-ever win in the Bundesliga, but Sebastian Hoeneß came unexpectedly close on Friday night: instead of 6-0, as in March 2018, this time it was 5-0, also against 1. FC Köln, who have now lost five in a row at TSG – with 1:21 goals.
“Boah,” said Hoeneß because of that first when asked on “DAZN” what he liked the most. “There was so much, I don’t think I can get it all together now. “
Hoeneß: “We never let Cologne into the game they wanted “
Hoeneß did think of a few things off the top of his head: the team performance, which was “simply good from the first to the last second in all phases of the game”; or that his team showed “a lot of energy on the pitch” and in general “the things we planned to do. We never actually let Cologne into the game they wanted too.”
Hoffenheim’s match plan was not without risk: “Basically, it was about going man-for-man up front,” revealed Hoeneß, who surprised Cologne with a three-man backline. And then it was about “controlling the temporary shortage in the red zone, i.e. in front of our defenders, with the ‘jokers’, the two sixes, and simply being extremely aggressive there”.
This resulted in game-deciding ball conquests. “Cologne,” explained Hoeneß, “are extremely courageous, and that has also carried them extremely well so far, but we have discovered that they are vulnerable especially when they lose the ball.”
On this evening, that was not to be overlooked. Almost all the goals followed the pattern described above and gave Hoeneß the highest victory of his still young Bundesliga coaching career. He had already won 4:0 twice, at Augsburg on Matchday 1 and against Werder Bremen on Matchday 22 of the pre-season.