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Füchse in a crisis, Göppingen struggling with injuries

Today's home team lost five of their last six league matches and sunk to tenth position. Göppingen managed to beat Friesenheim without Hraus, Fontaine and Nyokas, and Kneule is injured as well. Their absence will be much more felt against Füchse

Füchse interrupted their negative league series with a Cup victory, but it continued with an away loss against Bergischer. A fifth defeat in their last six championship games shifted the team to tenth place, four points behind second ranked Melsungen. They conceded 19 goals by halftime against Bergischer, and though their defense managed to improve a bit in the second half, Füchse did not achieve  a comeback. They were once again quite modest offensively, never scoring more than 27 in the negative series of seven games we mentione earlier.

- I thought I found something to build our success on after the Cup, but we lost it once again- said Sigurdsson, and went on:

- We were like an empty can in the first half.

European competition is further and further away, and the finish of this first part of the season against Göppingen and Gummersbach, their direct rivals, will be especially important. Today's opponents are six points ahead, and they already beat them at the very start of the season.

- If we want to win any more points prior to the winter break, we need to show some significant progress. We are further away from Europe than from the relegation zone, and this needs to be clear to everyone- warns Sigurdsson, but also adds:

- I want four points from the matches against Göppingen and Gummersbach, this would put us back in the game.

This proves he does not agree with manager Hanning's statement that he's "written off the fifth spot" long ago.

Sigurdsson might be able to use Igropulo today.

Göppingen started the championship strong, but dropped down a bit in the past few weeks and started to lag behind in the race for fourth place. However, they won two new victories last week, first a decisive win against Minden which got the team into the Cup quarterfinal, while they only struggled for the first 7-8 minutes against Friesenheim, the new team in the league. The away team took a 6-2 lead, but they answered with a six goal series and never looked back. They had +5 by halftime (18-13) and a comfortable 33-25 in the end.

The bad news is that Nyokas and Kneule are injured, which leaves Göppingen with just three healthy perimeter players, as Kraus and Fontaine are also out. This forced coach Andersson to field a setup with two circle runners.
- Our roster situation is anything but simple, but we played with our hearts in it and won a decisive victory- said Felix Lobedank.

It may not have been felt against Friesenheim, but Füchse are a much tougher and better team, and the absences might be much more felt today. Kraus and Fontaine will miss the away match in Berlin, while Nyokas and Kneule are still in question. Kneule remains on the short list for the German national team at the World Championship in January.

- I expect a very difficult game- said coach Andersson, who will bring young players Schoch and Fuß to this away match.