Maaßen: “Staying together as a team is all that matters”
Maaßen spoke ahead of matchday 28 against Leipzig
First Team
13.04.2023, 14:18
On Saturday (15/4, 15:30 CEST), FC Augsburg will travel to RB Leipzig. After the draw against Wolfsburg, FCA would like to pick up their next away points.
“Of course we need points, but everything is in our hands and that’s how we’ll approach the remaining fixtures,” said Enrico Maaßen, looking ahead to the last seven games of the Bundesliga season. “It’s important to stay in control in this period and believe in your own strengths.”
FCA had to accept a 3-1 defeat recently against 1. FC Köln in front of a sold-out crowd in the WWK Arena: “Of course, we’re not going to sugar-coat things; we often concede goals too easily, even though we are playing well in the game. We have to be consistent at the back and use everything we have to score goals,” summarised Maaßen.
Maaßen: “The way the boys are playing is right”
Things went better the week before as FCA picked up their first away point of the year against VfL Wolfsburg (2-2). The head coach wants to build on this: “The way the boys are playing is right – sometimes we’re missing that last bit of luck, sometimes a touch of quality, but we stick together and that’s the only way the results will come.”
FCA are now coming up against the fourth-placed team in the table and recent DFB-Pokal semi-finalists in RB Leipzig: “It won’t be easy, Leipzig are a very good side with and against the ball, but we have already shown this season how it can go. Unfortunately, we only picked up one point despite being in the lead,” said Enrico Maaßen, remembering the unfortunate 3-3 draw in the WWK ARENA but still in good spirits: “It’s all about the collective, that was the key in the reverse fixture and it will be the same in this game.”
Maaßen: “I have full confidence in the players out there”
While Ermedin Demirović is still suspended, fellow striker Mergim Berisha is also likely to be unavailable against Leipzig for a second time: “Of course, both of them have lots of quality and have scored goals, but important players have been missing in almost every game, so we have to get through that. I have full confidence in those who are there,” said Maaßen.
He will probably be without four more players in Kelvin Yeboah, Reece Oxford, Niklas Dorsch and goalkeeper Rafał Gikiewicz, all of whom are still training individually. Mads Pedersen will return to the squad after his yellow card suspension.
