Maaßen confirms more outs ahead of Frankfurt, speaks on team's "brutally annoying" trends
Ahead of a crucial match against a superior opponent, FC Augsburg trainer Enrico Maaßen confirmed that he would once again be missing two of his key players this weekend against Frankfurt.
On 30 points after 29 matchdays, FC Augsburg remain anything but safe from the 2022/23 German Bundesliga relegation race. Enrico Maaßen's Fuggerstädter still need to produce five or six points before they can begin to consider themselves safe. The Bavarian Swabians have been on a horrible run-of-form as of late, winless in their last six league fixtures. The team has blown a lead in all of them.
At his Thursday pre-match presser, trainer Maaßen confirmed that both leading goal-scorer Mërgim Berisha and starting keeper Rafal Gikiewicz would remain out for the Saturday match against Frankfurt. To add to the head-coach's problems, attacker Fredrik Jensen and starting fullback Iago are also unavailable.
Kelvin Yeboah and Niklas Dorsch both return, but will likely remain unavailable for the starting XI. Maaßen found himself addressing his team's inability to maintain leads at the press conference. The trainer labelled the trend "brutally annoying" and called upon his team to close out matches better as well as deliver more concentrated defending.
Opponents Eintracht, of course, have their own form problems. Maaßen wished to emphasize that still he took a "Champions' League opponent" very seriously. At his own pre-match presser, SGE trainer Oliver Glasner rejected any changes to his own back-three. Maaßen's squad might have a relatively soft Eintracht underbelly to exploit.