Thorup: “We want to use our momentum”
FCA in action against Wolfsburg
First Team
31.10.2024, 15:15
FC Augsburg’s confidence will be sky-high as they travel to face Wolfsburg on Matchday 9 of the Bundesliga. Jess Thorup’s side are looking to round off a busy week by picking up their first away league win of the season.
“I can sense that we’re growing as a team,” said FCA head coach Jess Thorup at the press conference ahead of the upcoming away match against VfL Wolfsburg. The 2-1 home win over Borussia Dortmund last Saturday gave the squad belief that FCA can turn these kinds of team performances into points.
Now at the Volkswagen Arena, Augsburg don’t just want to round off a busy week in style, but also pick up a first away league win of the current campaign. “We want to use our momentum,” said Thorup. However, momentum alone won’t be enough to get the better of Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side. “It’ll be extremely important to have a mixture of both individual quality and team spirit,” added the Dane.
Thorup: “Now, we need to start picking up points away from home”
Thorup is expecting VfL to be a strong opponent, who will be particularly dangerous from set pieces and counterattacks. “It’ll be about making the right decisions and defending counters, as well as not losing the ball in dangerous positions,” explained the Dane. Thorup is well aware that Wolfsburg’s attack will pose a threat, including Jonas Wind, who the FCA head coach knows well from their time together in Copenhagen (Wind scored 21 goals in 50 games under him). However, the head coach wants to concentrate more on his own side’s strengths that they showed against BVB and in the 3-0 DFB-Pokal win over Schalke 04. “The team have a lot of confidence at the moment. We’ve been able to show that we have the same ability to bounce back as we did last season. Now, we need to start picking up points away from home,” continued Thorup, who has won both of his managerial games against VfL so far.
Although Thorup praised Finn Dahmen for his performance in the Pokal, Nediljko Labrović will return in goal against Wolfsburg. Robert Gumny is set to return to the pitch with FCA’s U23 side. Daniel Klein is back in training but will still be unavailable, and the same goes for Fredrik Jensen, who has recovered well from his operation and is now working individually. Ruben Vargas is also progressing well, but is still recovering from his ankle injury and is not yet ready to return.
