Markus Gisdol: “If Helene is singing and Roberto is dancing, then all is well”

Almost one year on, TSG travel to Bremen well clear of the relegation places. Markus Gisdol's now have 40 points under their belt after a 2-0 win against FC Augsburg last Sunday. No one will be complaining if another three points come Hoffenheim's way this weekend.

A new ritual could end up taking place again. For the last few weeks, wins have been celebrated in the changing rooms with Helene Fischer's hit song “Atemlos” (Breathless). Roberto Firmino, who has the Brazilian samba rhythm in his blood, is one of the song's biggest fans. Markus Gisdol had the basic formula for Saturday worked out at his press conference on Thursday afternoon: “If Helene Fischer is singing and Roberto Firmino is dancing, then all is well.”

Mulling over left-back options

Gisdol didn't want to give a concrete goal for the remaining four games. “We want to have a good end to the season and maybe climb a place in the table. To do that, we would need a draw in Bremen or, even better, a win.” Gisdol is expecting a Bremen side keen to make up for last week's disappointing display in Mainz and predicts the home fans to be noisy.

The manager also didn't want to reveal his thoughts about a starting line-up for the game. He did, however, talk about his options to replace the suspended Andreas Beck at left back, which include Jeremy Toljan. The 19-year-old has come back from the Germany U20s with a slight knock though, having played the whole 90 minutes for them during the week. The other solution would be to bring Niklas Süle into central defence and push Tobias Strobl out to the left.

Someone who certainly won't be ready to start the game is David Abraham. The Argentinean centre back completed a full training session for the first time on Thursday morning and could find himself in the squad for Saturday, but playing the whole 90 minutes is not an option. The only player TSG will definitely be without is Sven Schipplock. The striker is still suffering from nerve inflammation, so someone else will have to provide the goals in Bremen this time. There are plenty of candidates – and perhaps Roberto Firmino will be the one making sure that he can do some dancing in the dressing room after the game.

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