Things are going well at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Under the direction of the new coach André Breitenreiter, there were two wins in a row. The winning streak should be continued against FC Augsburg. Striker Ihlas Bebou is unlucky. He will be out for months.
Zuzenhausen (dpa / lsw) – After two wins in a row, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim wants to continue the good start to the Bundesliga season with another win on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky) against FC Augsburg. The 3-0 win at Champions League club Bayer Leverkusen has given a boost. “It’s very important that we follow up after such an away win,” said 1899 head coach André Breitenreiter on Thursday. TSG only won three of their first four games in the 2010/11 season.
Augsburg are the favorite opponents of Hoffenheim, who are sixth in the table. 1899 celebrated more successes against no other team. But Breitenreiter doesn’t believe in such statistics. “The Augsburgers have already shown this season that they can win away from home. They play with a lot of tough tackles and switch quickly,” he said. “But we are well prepared and have trained hard and intensively.”
After the win in Leverkusen, the new coach has already made his signature visible in Hoffenheim and has now gotten past the introductory phase. “We found each other quickly. But the fact is that we are still in a process – despite the victory in Leverkusen,” said Breitenreiter. “We still have room for improvement and potential. We’re not finished yet.”
A downer is that Hoffenheim has to do without Ihlas Bebou for months. “He has tried to train in the past few days,” reported the coach. “One can assume that he will be out for months – whether three or six is ??impossible to say.” The 28-year-old German-Togolese soccer player has knee problems.
The obligation of a replacement will be examined. “We’re missing a starting XI player. We’re thinking about bringing one in,” said Breitenreiter. He also has to do without captain Benjamin Hübner, defender Ermin Bi?ak?i?, Philipp Pentke and Stanley Nsoki.
