Fürth’s gap to relegation place 16 has already grown to eight points. In Sunday’s home match against Eintracht Frankfurt, the battered cloverleaf wants to reduce this gap – despite the tense personnel situation, especially in the defensive centre.
Last in the table, only one point, eight league defeats in a row, plus the personnel shortage due to injuries and coronas. Perhaps that’s why Stefan Leitl was keen to open Friday’s press conference with “positive news”: Right-back Marco Meyerhöfer, the coach reported, has overcome his flu infection, which had slowed him down in the recent 1:3 in Freiburg, as has midfielder Adrian Fein his muscular problems, because of which he had to stop training on Wednesday.
Corona quintet not an issue again until the game in Gladbach
Nevertheless, the personnel emergency continues to dominate at the promoted club: Eleven injured or positive Corona-tested professionals currently make up the Fürth lazarette. Hopes of being able to release the five players Sascha Burchert, Maximilian Bauer, Nils Seufert, Jeremy Dudziak and Dickson Abiama, who are still in quarantine, early have been dashed. “There is a chance that we will get them out of quarantine at the beginning of next week,” explained Leitl. If the medical department gives the green light and the return to training goes without complications, the quintet – or at least parts of it – could again be a topic for the away match at Borussia Mönchengladbach (20 November) after the international break.
Three options, no centre-back
But Leitl will still have to do without this one against Eintracht – as well as defender Nick Viergever, who tore a ligament in his ankle last Saturday in Freiburg and will miss several weeks. With Gideon Jung (knee surgery) and Justin Hoogma (knee ligament injury) out as well as Bauer and Viergever, only three players will be considered for the central defence against Frankfurt: a right-back in Abdourahmane Barry and two defensive midfielders in Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Sebastian Griesbeck. “It’s a situation that I’ve never experienced before as a player or coach,” Leitl says, adding that improvisation is the order of the day in the centre of defence. Despite the lack of personnel, the 44-year-old does not want to complain and instead emphasises: “We are going into the game with a clear conscience because we have confidence in the boys.
Leitl’s charges have rarely been able to justify this in the Bundesliga season so far. After ten games, only seven own goals are the second-worst value in the league after Bielefeld, but in return, 27 goals conceded are even the worst. “We are always on the same level in the individual games and can even out matches,” says the coach, highlighting the positive aspects before going on to list the shortcomings: “Sometimes we lack the last pass, sometimes we are unlucky in the match, sometimes we need to defend more uncompromisingly. It all adds up, there are too many individual things that mean we can’t win. “
Turnover, injured, Corona: “All things we have to work through together first “
The negative run so far does not come as a complete surprise to the Munich native. “We already knew before the season that it wouldn’t be easy for us. We had to accept an extremely big upheaval, which is not normal for normal promoted teams,” Leitl recalls of the summer. “It’s quite normal that it takes time and not everything can work immediately, especially when negative results come. Now we have the situation with many injured players and Corona on top of that. These are all things that we have to work through together first,” he emphasises. “It’s not like we can say: Well, eleven players are out at Fürth, then eleven new ones will come in and we’ll quickly play in the Bundesliga. Other clubs, who perhaps have more financial resources, also have a lot of trouble with that. “
Leitl has not lost faith in his team, which has been badly shaken in terms of results and personnel, and in the turnaround for the better – on the contrary: “The team is getting closer and closer week by week and is gaining confidence in the way we want to play,” says the coach and makes an impassioned plea for his team: “It doesn’t matter who is out and it doesn’t matter if we don’t have any central defenders left: These are my boys and I trust them completely. I know that they will do everything they can, I am 100 per cent convinced of that. And then I think it’s finally our turn to win a game.” Emphatic words that his players will have to confirm and fill with life on Sunday.