Schmidt: “We want to be rewarded for our efforts”

Next up for FC Augsburg: an away match at Borussia Mönchengladbach at the unusual time of 13:30 CEST on Sunday. FCA are desperate to take home points in order to go into the international break on a positive note. After last week’s home defeat to Leverkusen (3-0), head coach Martin Schmidt is now looking forward to their next challenge: “Some games you win, some games you learn from. We learnt a lot from the last game and now we just want to show this.” Above all, FCA are looking to improve their offensive performances. While they have defended well over their past few games, they have often been missing that ‘final pass’. The team have put in intensive work on the training ground to improve this. “We trained well on Tuesday and there was a very positive atmosphere. We want to continue to improve.” At the moment, the team’s results aren’t matching the effort they’re putting in, but they are undertaking a process of ‘continuous development’, and they should hopefully be rewarded for their efforts in the future.

The results aren’t matching their efforts – Martin Schmidt

In order to start picking up more points, it’s important to just concentrate up the upcoming game rather than thinking about the difficult games that await them in October. “We are completely focussed on the game against Gladbach,” says Schmidt. The fact that The Foals have already played in the Europa League in Istanbul this week (1-1) only plays an indirect role. “It would be wrong to assume that Gladbach will be tired. It’s crucial that we take the game to them right from the start and concentrate on our own game.” He describes their opponents as a team that ‘likes to press high and are quick in transition.” He also sees Marco Rose’s side as a team that has ‘physical players in the centre of the pitch’ and a strong attack. Schmidt is expecting an ‘intense’ affair due to the ‘similar profiles of the two teams’. Picking the right line-up is crucial Despite the quality of the opposition, Schmidt has a plan for how FCA can be successful: “We have a big squad so we can adapt how we play based on the opposition. It’s important to get the right mixture. We know what we need to do to keep improving and we have been practicing our attacking play.”