Arminia Bielefeld hoped in vain for an impulse from the change of coach. Under the new coach Marco Kostmann there was a 1:3 (1:2) at 1. FC Köln.
The relegation battle is getting more and more acute for Arminia Bielefeld – the change of coach from Frank Kramer to Marco Kostmann has not yet had anything countable. “Some goals shouldn’t be conceded. At this point I’m just disappointed,” said goalkeeper Stefan Ortega sky after the 1:3 (1:2) at the European Cup contenders 1. FC Köln. The traveling fans tried to cheer up their team after the final whistle. Because the next opponent on the Alm is Hertha BSC.
The East Westphalians earned good fighting marks, but it wasn’t enough to wrest a point from the by no means fully convincing Rhinelanders. “We showed a decent performance, but we didn’t get anything,” said Bielefeld’s offensive player Patrick Wimmer, “we had a good week of training, but the fight wasn’t rewarded.”
It was the seventh defeat from the last eight games – Arminia is still in 17th place in the table and is in acute danger of relegation. After all, a goal was finally scored again, although a Cologne player had to serve for it.
Markt Uth (3rd), Anthony Modeste (43rd) and Jan Thielmann (86th) sealed the 15th Bielefeld defeat of the season, which could have been worse given the balance of power. However, Cologne was not consistent enough in many moments, such as when the Bielefeld goal came about: FC central defender Timo Hübers (33rd) stumbled the ball into his own goal to make it 1-1. Nevertheless, with 49 points, Cologne is clearly on course for Europe.
Bielefeld had fired the hapless Kramer on Wednesday and made the previous goalkeeping coach Kostmann the boss. Those responsible for sporting director Samir Arabi hoped that this step would give them an impetus in the fight to stay up in the league.
Cologne manages an immediate response to Bielefeld’s compensation
But Kostmann had just taken his place in the coaching zone on Saturday when he saw Bielefeld’s first goal. Uth was allowed to accept the ball in the penalty area and shoot it from the turn – goalkeeper Stefan Ortega could only look after the ball.
Shortly thereafter, Cologne captain Jonas Hector and Bielefeld’s Alessandro Schöpf clashed heads. Ex-national player Hector returned after a long treatment with a thick bandage around his head, but then had to leave the field. After the spirited start, it became increasingly disorganized, with many duels and fouls characterizing the game in front of 50,000 spectators.
Bielefeld made an effort, but not dangerous – and still managed to equalize. Wimmer forced Luca Kilian to make a mistake, passed the ball in the middle, where Hübers unfortunately scored into his own goal.
But Arminia’s hopes were quickly dampened again: After Dejan Ljubicic shot past the empty goal after winning the ball (39th), Modeste scored his 17th goal of the season a little later – and took the opportunity to throw a pack of his own coffee in the goal celebration to hold cameras.
After the break, Bielefeld tried to build up more pressure. But it was rarely really dangerous because the guests lacked the ideas and creativity to do so.
1. FC Cologne – Arminia Bielefeld: The data for the game
