Lots of frustration, few points

Steffen Baumgart is known for handling things slightly differently to many of his fellow coaches. Last season, for example, the Köln coach read out his entire starting line-up to stunned journalists two days before the match against Werder Bremen. Baumgart's justification was simple: "I've not yet won or lost a match because the line-up was known. For me, the secrecy that we have in football is always a bit in line with the motto: 'Everyone thinks we're stupid'. Everyone knows 80% of the positions anyway. I've just revealed 100% now!" The logical outcome: Köln thrashed Bremen 7-1.

The 51-year-old coach has been in an outspoken mood once again ahead of the clash against TSG on Saturday (15:30 CET / Live Ticker at tsg-hoffenheim.de) – and gave his own team a proper scolding: "It can't go on like this," Baumgart said of the team's recent performances. "40% possession and fighting defensive battles is not my idea of football," he said, adding: "I wouldn't say that I'd rather go down in a blaze of glory. But football should be fun."

The Cathedral City club have not yet given their own supporters much reason to be cheerful this season. The first Bundesliga champions have taken one point – achieved thanks to a lot of luck in Frankfurt in their last outing – from their opening three games. Prior to that, FC had lost their home game against VfL Wolfsburg (2-1) and suffered an unfortunate defeat in Dortmund in their opening match (1-0). The low points tally, which is not entirely surprising considering their opponents, is compounded by the acute injury situation in Cologne. The regular No. 6 Eric Martel is unavailable to play for the time being; the U21 international, who picked up a heel injury on international duty, will be joined on the sidelines by Luxembourg international Matthias Olesen (muscular problems). That means that alternatives will be in short supply for Baumgart because the squad boasts little in the way of depth, especially in view of the long-term injuries to Mark Uth, Jan Thielmann and Florian Dietz.

With Ellyes Skhiri departing and Jonas Hector calling time on his career, the Rhineland outfit are on the lookout for a functioning axis around new captain Florian Kainz, who has increasingly been operating centrally of late. One of the key questions for Köln is: Who is going to score the goals for FC? The goal threat from Köln, who deliver a lot of crosses and seek out the central striker, has recently been rather modest. One of the reasons is Davie Selke's injury situation. The attacker, who had to sit out the Frankfurt game with a strain, has declared himself fit again for the game against TSG – but a question mark remains: the Köln No. 27 was only able to play a total of 78 minutes against Dortmund and Wolfsburg due to persistent niggles. New signing Luca Waldschmidt, whose arrival prompted a wave of praise, is still a little unfamiliar with Baumgart's intensive style of football – and it all makes for a slightly subdued sporting situation in the Cathedral City at present. But despite all of the (personnel) concerns, Köln are keeping up their hard-running approach and will seek out chances with great willingness and immense passion. And they can be sure of a special atmosphere on Saturday.

Because, as the saying goes, there's always something to celebrate in Cologne. How fitting, then, that the stadium in Müngersdorf, which was opened in 1923 by the then Lord Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this Saturday. And so the game against TSG has had its status elevated to an Anniversary Match – with the fans stipulating that they should play in white, a nod to the good old days when FC fancied themselves as the "Real Madrid of the West". But it is not to be taken as a sign of premature surrender; you can be sure of that with the swashbuckling Steffen Baumgart in the dugout.

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