With two defeats at the start of the Regionalliga West, 1. FC Köln II has made a false start. Coach Mark Zimmermann does not want to put the players under pressure.
The U21s of 1. FC Köln are in last place in the standings before the third matchday in the Regionalliga West. Coach Mark Zimmermann calls it a false start: “After two games, we have zero points. So it’s very different from what we hoped for, but also expected.”
He adds: “We played a good first half against Rödinghausen. Then, of course, we weakened ourselves with the yellow card. We played very naively in the second half when we were shorthanded. In the end, we were right to lose by that amount. In the second game against Schalke, both teams were on a par. The Schalkers were definitely better than us that day, due to their creativity and courage in their own standards, and they took advantage of our mistakes,” said Zimmermann, summing up the first games.
Zimmermann cannot yet answer whether a false start is harder to overcome for a young team: “That remains to be seen. During the week, the boys worked very concentrated and made a motivated impression. The players don’t seem unsettled.”
The coach also wants to avoid this at all costs: “The club is not threatening the boys with consequences, nor is everything being thrown overboard in one week of training. It wouldn’t be the right way to build up pressure on such young players. “
The goal is to get points against Kaan-Marienborn
A challenge for the Cologne team also arises from the changing squad: “We have played with different teams in the two games. With the team that played last week, we weren’t well-rehearsed, even if it sounds like we need to get more out of it, purely from the names. Now we’ll see what our face will look like next Saturday.”
On the third matchday, 1. FC Köln’s reserves are guests at 1. FC Kaan-Marienborn (Sunday, 2 pm). There, the switch should be turned on for Zimmermann’s eleven: “We want to use the knowledge gained from the first games and play a stable game over 90 minutes. It is clear that an away game in Kaan-Marienborn is no easy task. We play on artificial turf against an experienced team that, apart from the DFB Cup match, hasn’t lost for a long time. Still, it’s the next chance for us to finally get points. “
