Stani: “There will be goals”

The stats for this game make for good reading for Hoffenheim. In their three Bundesliga games in Köln, 1899 have won twice and drawn the other. But head coach Holger Stanislawski is expecting a tough encounter, despite Köln's poor record. “They were great in the derby last week against Leverkusen, and their squad will be full of confidence. Their fans will be a fantastic 12th man”, he said.

Not resting on success

Stanislawski is looking for another concentrated performance from his team. “The boys know we have a great chance to climb up the league with another good display on Sunday. We don't want to rest on our last two wins. We also know how strong Köln will be, but we hope that we'll be able to restrict them by playing with a high tempo and plenty of energy ourselves”, he explained. To prepare for the game, Stani has not only watched videos of Köln, but also attended their last home game against 1. FC Nürnberg. There he saw first-hand how Stale Solbakken's team operates. “In that game they lost, and they deserved to. But Nürnberg are an awkward team to play. Against Leverkusen, however, they didn't have much possession, but they took their chances ruthlessly.”

Players missing for both sides

Köln manager Solbakken has been forced to make changes to the eleven which thrashed Leverkusen in the Rhine derby last weekend. Captain Geromel and Anmar Jemal are injured, while Miso Brecko misses out through suspension. Henrique Sereno and former TSG player Christian Eichert are set to come in as replacements. “I have to change the starting eleven again for the Hoffenheim game. That's the sixth injury we've had in the first six games”, complained the 43-year-old Norwegian Solbakken. Holger Stanislawski is fortunate enough to be able to keep faith with the team which started against Wolfsburg, but he is still missing a number of players himself. Matthias Jaissle, Fabian Johnson, Tobias Weis, Sejad Salihovic and Manuel Gulde are all currently injured. But there was good news as well this week, as Vedad Ibisevic and Boris Vukcevic returned to full training, although the game on Sunday comes too soon to involve them.

Still tickets available

There are currently 300 Hoffenheim fans due to make the 300km trip north to Cologne for the game on Sunday, and Stanislawski is hoping more will join them. “The fans are always great for us. Perhaps a few more might think to themselves, “That's a spectacle I'd like to see”, and join the others to support us on Sunday.” There will be tickets available at the away ticket offices outside the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne from 1.30 on Sunday afternoon.

Stats and Facts

1. FC Köln have played six games this season and are yet to keep a clean sheet, conceding 15 goals in that time. Only once have they started a Bundesliga season with so many goals conceded – that was in the 1984-85 season, when they had conceded 16 at this stage. Hoffenheim are the only side to have netted in every league game this season, and have scored at least one goal in their last 12 league games. Köln's main weapons will be Milivoje Novakovic and Lukas Podolski, against Hoffeheim's own fearsome attacking duo Roberto Firmino and Ryan Babel. Podolski claimed one assist and two goals last week, while Novakovic scored one and created three; seven of Hoffenheim's last eight goals have been scored by either Firmino or Babel.

Match facts and statistics »