After the rebuild is before the rebuild. That may be how Pellegrino Matarazzo feels at the moment. Because after the double suspension for Pavel Kaderabek and Marius Bülter for the game in Frankfurt, the TSG Hoffenheim coach will also have to replace a duo this weekend
Concretely, it’s about John Anthony Brooks and Ozan Kabak, who were both sent off in the 3-1 defeat at Eintracht. Kabak will only have to miss Saturday’s game against VfB Stuttgart, as the Turk was shown a yellow card. Brooks is likely to be condemned to two games on the sidelines after his straight red card for an emergency brake against Omar Marmoush, which will be decided by the DFB sports court in the near future.
Another double suspension. After Kaderabek (5th yellow card) and Bülter (yellow-red against Werder Bremen), the wings were recently affected, now the personnel for the center of cover is decimated. Quite bitter for the coach, because of all places, where they had supposedly stabilized in recent weeks and suffered a serious relapse in Frankfurt, the worries against VfB are now great
Nsoki saw no land in Frankfurt recently
Kabak was basically a starter from the start of the season and was the most stable central defender alongside Kevin Vogt, who was sold to 1. FC Union in January. The line-up with him and Brooks in the half-back positions and Florian Grillitsch as the central man in a back three had recently settled into place. In Frankfurt, however, Grillitsch showed glaring weaknesses in tackling and the trio, in conjunction with the rail players, showed considerable deficiencies in defending deep
The rotation that is now necessary promises little improvement. Stanley Nsoki, a left-footed central defender, would be available for Brooks. However, the Frenchman, deployed on the wing in Frankfurt, looked out of sorts against Junior Dina Ebimbe. The 55 minutes in Hesse are unlikely to have helped the already inconsistent Nsoki gain any more confidence
Adams as a symbol
The fact that even Kasim Adams made his first competitive appearance of the season on Sunday evening says a lot about TSG’s defensive performance in this game. The Ghanaian, for whom Hoffenheim have been searching in vain for some time, may even have earned himself a chance against VfB as a result. As far as the Kabak role is concerned, Kevin Akpoguma should be set. In Frankfurt, the 28-year-old deputized for Kaderabek on the right wing and put in a halfway decent performance
