Köln head coach challenges team to defend better on set pieces: “That’s five goals conceded.” | OneFootball

Newly promoted Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln can hardly have too many complaints about the new season. Even after dropping Saturday’s evening’s Top-Spiel to RB Leipzig, head coach Lukas Kwasniok’s Geißböcke still have seven points and will finish no lower than fifth in the Bundesliga table once the weekend is out. Despite that fact that the team has far exceeded expectations, Kwasniok remained annoyed with the result.

“The bottom line is that we simply allow too many set pieces and concede too many goals from them,” Kwasniok told Sky Germany. “I think that’s five so far this season. That makes it difficult overall because you fall behind too easily.”

Köln conceded two goals from set-pieces in the opening half. The second instance, David Raum’s 3-1 at 45+4, proved an absolute back-breaker. Kwasniok revealed to Sky that he had been hoping to keep influential midfielder Eric Martel on the pitch for the duration of the game. The fact that Martel earned a yellow card on the foul leading up to Raum’s goal nevertheless led to Kwasniok taking him off in the 59th-minute.

“Sometimes one can get frustrated with oneself,” Kwasniok told Sky afterward, noting that he did regret the decision, “It just wasn’t meant to be today. We had all our offensive players on the field. In any event after three away games in the first four games, it was clear that sooner or later we would lose away. That has now happened.“

“I thought we had the game under control after the [23rd-minute] 1-1,” Martel himself added in his own visit to the Skysports pitch-side desk. “But then we conceded two unnecessary goals before the break and didn’t clear the ball well. When you concede two goals here, it becomes difficult. Every time the ball came into our box [of dead balls], it was like a fire had broken out.”

Though neither Kwasniok nor Martel commented on it specifically, there was also the matter of Köln substitute Ragnar missing two clear-cut chances to equalize after his introduction in the 59th-minute. Domstädter sporting director Thomas Kessler did allude to it briefly in his own comments to Sky, noting “We have to blame ourselves for not having the necessary punch up front.“

GGFN | Peter Weis