The defeat to Bayern Munich in the southern derby has been consigned to the history books and VfB are switching their focus to the north of the country, where they will face Holstein Kiel in their first-ever Bundesliga match in Schleswig-Holstein. Head coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team are dealing with “challenging circumstances” against the Storks on Saturday afternoon – not only because of their opponents, but also because of VfB’s injury list.
Hoeneß is without six centre-backs for the trip to 17th-placed Kiel, with Dan Axel-Zagadou (knee), Finn Jeltsch (suspended) and Ameen Al-Dakhil (lacking fitness after muscle injury) having been joined on the sidelines by Jeff Chabot, Luca Jaquez (both ill) and Anrie Chase, who suffered an adductor strain while playing for the Under-21s in Bielefeld last Sunday. Niko Nartey, Luca Raimund (both thigh) and El Bilal (lacking fitness after metatarsal surgery) are also expected to miss Saturday’s game.
Despite the lack of defensive personnel, Hoeneß is in confident mood. “We don’t have that many players to choose from, but we’ll find solutions,” he said. “We have options, such as Leo Stergiou and Ramon Hendriks, who tend to play on either side of our defence but have played centrally at their former clubs.”
“Want to continue our trend”
Against promoted Kiel, Hoeneß says it will be important for VfB to “continue our recent trend as far as our general play is concerned”, adding: “We want to start the game well, as we did against Bayern, but also be efficient. To do that, we have to be ruthless in front of goal.”
Hoeneß insists his players are approaching Saturday’s game against the Bundesliga strugglers with the same mindset as last week’s encounter with Bayern. “Kiel is just as big a game as the one against Munich,” he said. “Like every game in the Bundesliga, it’s a very challenging task. I want us to put in a good performance and perform as a cohesive unit, because Kiel also have plenty at stake. They’re doing really well as a promoted side, they won last week and will definitely want to upset us at home.”