Matchday in focus: 1. FC Köln

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Eintracht Frankfurt

·3 September 2023

Matchday in focus: 1. FC Köln

Köln employ a 4-2-3-1 system and have a number of players in their squad who came through the Eintracht youth academy.

Tactics

Steffen Baumgart, who is going into his third season as Köln head coach, usually sets his team up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. However, things have not gone to plan for the 51-year-old and his charges in the Bundesliga so far this season: after two rounds of matches and narrow defeats against Dortmund and Wolfsburg, the Billy Goats are yet to earn a single point.

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Absentees

Baumgart is likely to be without Davie Selke, Dominique Heintz, Mark Uth, Jan Thielmann, Noah Katterbach and Florian Dietz, who are all injured. For Eintracht, Kristijan Jakic and Mehdi Loune are both on the sidelines with injury, while Ansgar Knauff is suspended. Paxten Aaronson is rated doubtful after sustaining a knock on his knee, but captain Sebastian Rode returns.

One to watch: Luca Waldschmidt

Luca Waldschmidt joined Köln on loan from VfL Wolfsburg over the summer. Baumgart has tended to field the 27-year-old attacker on the left wing, where he has shown his potential in both of the team’s league games this term.
Goal threat: Waldschmidt has already scored once in the Bundesliga this season, while his five shots on goal represent a team high.
Tireless: he has completed 153 intensive runs so far in 2023/24, putting him 17th overall in that particular category in the Bundesliga. Right-back Rasmus Carstensen is the only Köln player with more (169).
Familiar face: Waldschmidt rose up through the Eintracht youth ranks and was on the club’s books for six years up until 2016. He posted one goal and one assist in 17 competitive appearances for the first team.

Reunions Faride Alidou recently moved to Cologne on loan from Eintracht. Ellyes Skhiri went in the opposite direction prior to the start of the campaign and is now an Eagle. In Waldschmidt, Jeff Chabot and Denis Huseinbasic, Köln have three players who were trained at Eintracht’s youth academy, although the former is the only one of the trio to have appeared for the Eagles’ first team.