👀 No fear of a lead after all? Köln end frustrating run | OneFootball

Although 1. FC Köln have made a very solid start to the new season, one statistic caused both surprise and frustration — among Effzeh fans as well as players and club officials.

That is because Köln did not seem capable of simply taking the lead directly from 0-0. Against Hoffenheim, FC twice fell behind before turning things around and winning. And even in the DFB-Pokal against third-division side Würzburger Kickers, the Rhineland team went into the break 0-1 down and only secured their place in the next round in the second half.

Against VfB Stuttgart, they not only fell behind early on, but also ended up suffering a fairly clear defeat.

So are Köln actually afraid of scoring the very first goal in a game and taking a comfortable lead?

In the current marquee match, Effzeh are hosting SV Werder Bremen — and at first it looked very much as though this rather annoying run, from Köln’s perspective, would continue in exactly the same way. Dallinga was handed a golden chance to put them ahead very early on: after a handball by Regeer, referee Florian Exner pointed to the spot.

Dallinga stepped up and aimed low to the left. Werder goalkeeper Karl Hein saved it and initially kept his team level (8'). For the Köln striker, meanwhile, it was already the third missed penalty of this still very young Bundesliga season.

But just three minutes later, the time had finally come: Linton Maina struck from a good 17 meters into the far corner to give his team their very first 1-0 lead of the season.

That is sure to go down well with everyone in Köln — constantly having to chase a deficit drains energy on the pitch and nerves off it, whether in the stadium or in front of the TV.

In the remaining time of this marquee match, we will now find out whether Köln’s game-management and lead-extension skills are just as solid as their comeback qualities.

At the moment, it does not look that way. Niclas Füllkrug equalized for Werder in the 69th minute. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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