retired_rainmaker

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Sportfreunde Siegen - Sunday 4th May 2003********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2002/3 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21 Akoto, Erik 33 1 0 0 2 3 0 0 7.09 25 Albrechtsen, Martin 21 1 0 0 4 2 0 0 7.24 1 Almer, Franz 31 0 62 0 0 0 0 1 7.03 6 Arzu 29 1 0 0 6 2 1 1 7.45 22 Atalan, Servet 22 8 0 0 3 4 2 2 6.73 2 Bäcker, Sascha 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 45 Balaz, Michal - - - - - - - - ---- 49 Berg, Dennis - - - - - - - - ---- 46 Bleck, Sven-Jörg 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 12 Cirba, Romas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 15 Custos, Bruno 21 (2) 6 0 0 7 0 0 2 7.22 5 Dione, Ousseynou 4 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.80 24 Döring, Nils 23 1 0 1 (1) 3 0 0 1 7.17 - Eckhardt, Sven 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 10 Gastón Curbelo 34 4 0 0 7 1 0 1 7.06 13 Gombert, Marcel 4 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 23 Graulund, Peter 27 13 0 0 0 0 0 1 7.96 18 Islamoglu, Cem 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 7 Jailliti, Mounir 11 (2) 2 0 1 (1) 2 0 0 0 6.92 17 Klein, Martin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 20 Koch, Andreas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 14 Kotula, Jozef 18 (3) 3 0 0 4 0 0 0 7.10 44 Kresovic, Slobodan - - - - - - - - ---- 4 Lassissi, Saliou 33 3 0 0 0 5 0 1 7.00 11 Lukin, Eric 7 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.71 50 Mehr, Christian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 47 Mujakic, Nihad - - - - - - - - ---- 43 Schlabach, Timo 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 19 Schöler, Tobias 5 (2) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 7.43 3 Straub, Matthias 12 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.42 8 Truckenbrod, Jens 3 (4) 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.71 48 Wurm, Tobias 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Zott, Tobias 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.50 9 van Buskirk, John 31 18 0 0 6 1 0 7 7.84 </pre>

retired_rainmaker

With the season behind us it was time to look ahead to the coming year and my third in charge of Siegen. I felt we now had a good squad capable of keeping it's place in the 2. Bundesliga, but with higher aspirations than that we needed to keep building. To that effort several of the fringe players were released or transfered on Bosmans to other clubs. Only two new players came as the transfer window opened though. The young Ben Woods joined us from Dover to provide backup to Atalan. While he is untested at higher levels he has really done well for them and I see a big future for him. The other was Roland Benschneider from Trier. Though he barely played for them, he looks like a good backup player to our defensive midfield and at only 22 he is also a good signing for the future.

I was still looking for a creative flair player to the midfield though and an experienced defensive general to boost our rear lines. Teddy Lukic was a target, but though Leverkusen doesn't even use him, they didn't want to sell. Eventually though they accepted a bid of €625K and we finished the deal. Now I really think that we can challenge for a promotion spot though it will be close as always in this division.

Despite our good results and our stronger squad the board still just expected us to steer clear of relegation. Of course I had the same hopes, but personally I wanted at least a top five finish. On the good side of things our investors did decide to inject a little cash in the club, all earmarked for an upgrade of of training facilities. Hopefully this will prevent some of the injuries we suffered in training last year. I think that with the added experience of our players this could really be our year.

The draw for the German Cup was kind to us though as we drew amateur side Wehen from the lower leagues. They should be more than managable even though it is an away match. Quite a bit of money was also made as we sold Eric Lukin for €625K to more than finance the purchase of Lukic from Leverkusen. Not a bad exchange all things considered. We played a single friendly during our preparations and picked up a massive 5-2 win over Kaiserslautern. Quite impressive. Both Woods and Benschneider got a half and both impressed with Woods scoring a goal.

Before I even knew it the summer was over and it was time to start the new season, but first.....leeeeeet's meet the first team squaaaaaad......

retired_rainmaker

Key to the next part:

Player number, name, age, nationality, position (games for Siegen, goals for Siegen, average rating for Siegen, caps/goals).


1. Franz Almer, 32, Austrian, Goalkeeper (31 - 0 - 7,03 - 0)
An experienced keeper signed from Grazer AK a year ago and our number one keeper. While he is not spectacular, he is stable and makes up for his lackings with his experience. He is getting pushed for the number one spot now, but should keep it for at least this season. Due to his age and our ambitions he may well be on his way out soon though.

12. Marcel Gombert, 18, German, Goalkeeper (4 - 0 - 6,50 - 0)
Marcel got his chance last year for a few games, but while he is extremely talented he is still way too inexperienced and still has too much to learn before he can oust Almer. He might be sent on loan to pick up some first team football. There can't be much doubt though that he is one for the future.

Andreas Koch, 32, German, Goalkeeper (93 - 0 - 7,07 - 0)
Andreas has served the club well, but his skills is just not good enough for this level. As it is he only ranks third amongst the goalkeepers and he shouldn't expect to get any games this year. The only exception will be if Gombert goes on loan and Almer gets injured or suspended.


2. Martin Albrechtsen, 25, Danish, Defender (21 - 1 - 7,24 - 3)
Bought for a high price last year to play in central defence Martin has instead made the right full back spot his place though he is doubtly better centrally. High competetion has forced him to accept a place on the flank though and even playing a bit out of position he has been a revelation and one of our most prized players. If we can hang on to him until promotion, then we can be assured of quality. With three caps he has also played at the highest level.

3. Nils Döring, 23, German, Defender 23 - 1 -7,17 - 0)
Another one of our young and very talented players. Nils signed for us last year and has provided stability on the left side of defence easily ousting his opposition there. Living mainly on his great pace he uses it to make up for the defensive mistakes he does make every now and then due to lack of experience.

4. Teddy Lucic, 32, Swedish, Defender (0 - 0 - 0 - 38)
Our biggest signing of the pre-season Teddy is a vastly experienced and suberb defender. For some reason Leverkusen didn't want to use him and this allowed us to pick him up for a small fee. With his skill and calm he should be a rock in central defence and prevent us from conceeding as many goals as we did last year.

5. Saliou Lassissi, 26, Ivory Coast, Defender (62 - 7 - 7,11 - 2)
Another vastly experienced players who have played for both Parma and Fiorentina in the future. Despite his young age he has already proved a rock in our defence and partnering with Lucic it can almost only get better in the future. Both big and strong he is a player that strikers will bounce off on and he should prove very valuable again.

15. Sascha Bäcker, 23, German, Defender (48 - 0 -6,79 - 0)
Another young talent, but I fear he just doesn't have what it takes. He has had plenty of opportunities, but has so far failed to take them and after the arrival of Albrechtsen a first team place is far away for him.

14. Matthias Straub, 22, German, Defender (44 - 0 - 6,76 - 0)
Another player who is sharing a fate with Bäcker and practically everything that applies to one also applies to the other. He will have to get his act together if he wants regular football.

16. Erik Akoto, 25, Togolese, Defender (33 - 1 - 7,09 - 6/2)
Young Erik was bought during the last season and proved to be a good defender. He still is with good skills in all the vital areas, but the arrival of Lucic will push him down as third choice for a place in central defence. He should get his fair share of games though and is equally at home on the defensive midfield making him a versatile and important member of the team.

retired_rainmaker

6. Arturo Garcia "Arzu" Muñoz, 24, Spanish, Midfielder (29 - 1 - 7,45 - 0)
Our most expensive player ever Arzu has more than lived up to the expectations we had to him despite a few injuries. Playing from a position on the defensive midfield he utilises his great passing ability to set up attacks and also play right to the limit to prevent our opponents from getting an advantage. He is our cornerstone in midfield.

7. Carlos Gaston Curbelo Mareco, 27, Uruguayan/French, Midfielder (34 - 4 - 7,06 - 0)
Gaston is far from being a spectacular player, but he is stable and one can almost always depend on him to play to the best of his ability. Still, his place in the line-up is far from assured as Jailitti is pushing hard to oust him from the team. He will really need to be at his best to keep his place.

8. Jens Truckenbrod, 23, German, Midfielder (32 - 14 - 7,06 - 0)
Just like Gaston, Jens is far from any spectacular player and while he didn't play much last year he has a great ability to be in the right place at the right time, a fact which can be seen in his ability to score on average in every second game. Even so he will need to improve a lot if he is to be sure of a place in the first team.

20. Jozef Kotula, 26, Slovakian, Midfielder (119 - 9 - 7,02 - 0)
Our old captain has spent most of his career playing for Siegen and he is still called upon regularly as he can be counted on to keep fighting and always giving his most when playing. Still, the arrival of Arzu and the emergence of younger players means that he will have to start on the bench initially.

17. Roland Benschneider, 22, German, Midfielder (0 - 0 - 0 - 0)
Another new signing and one I expect quite a lot from. He won't push for a first team place this year, but in a year or two he could secure a place. A lot of it depends on his development, but he is looking determined to make it at Siegen.

19. Mounir Jailitti, 23, French, Midfielder (38 - 6 - 6,89 - 0)
I didn't expect much from Jounir this year, but with three goals against Kaiserslautern in our friendly he has forced me to reconsider. He is one of those players who either does nothing or who can decide a match on his own. Quite a mood player.

Christian Wohlfarht, 17, German, Midfielder (0 - 0 - 0 -0)
Christian is a player of our youth system and looks to be a rough diamond who could really become a star in the future. He still has a lot to learn, but there can be little doubt that even in his first year as a senior he will be tested in action against poorer opposition. At the moment he is considering our contract offer, but there can be little doubt as to his acceptance.


18. Ben Woods, 22, English, Forward (0 - 0 - 0 - 0)
The last of our new players and one I expect a lot from. Captured from the conference in England this will be a tough test for him, but he will get his chance as Atalan is suspended for the first games. So far he has played 45 minutes for us and actually scored in this little time. He is fast, strong and has an excellent shot so he does have the chance to make it, but the jury is still out on him.

11. Servet Atalan, 26, Turkish/German, Forward (22 - 8 - 6,73 - 0)
There is no doubt that Atalan is skillful and has a good eye for goal, but with his major disciplinary problems he won't be around for long if he doesn't get them under control. Also, with the arrival of Woods he will have strong competition and if he is unlucky he won't get his place in the team back once he has served out his 3 match suspension.

9. Peter Graulund, 28, Danish, Striker (27 - 13 - 7,96 - 0)
Peter is a deadly striker who scores his share of goals. Shooting equally well with both feet he is a constant menace for the defenders who try to stop him. His major problem is that his goals come in droves. He can go goalless for 6 games in a row and then score 3 in the next. If he can get a bit more concentration into his game then he is a potential topscorer.

10. John van Buskirk, 31, American, Striker (109 - 34 - 7,74 - 0)
John has served us for several years and have proven himself one of the most consistent scorers in the German leagues. Strong, fast and good in the air he has a vast arsenal to draw upon and I'm expecting at least another 15 goals from him in the coming season.

22. Tobias Schöler, 21, German, Striker (26 - 18 - 7,92 - 0)
Tobias is none of the things one would associate with a good striker, but 18 goals in 26 games is a stat that tells another tale. He has an instinctive knowledge of where to position himself and also quite a bit of luck meaning that he has gotten a lot of lucky goals. Still, he is only third choice, but there can be little doubt that he will get his chance.

retired_rainmaker

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Sportfreunde Siegen - Saturday 26th July 2003********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Almer, Franz GK AUT 23.9.70 32 - - ¤2.3K 8.6.07 ¤1M - Eckhardt, Sven GK GER 22.1.76 27 - - ¤1.2K 30.6.04 ¤140K 12 Gombert, Marcel GK GER 2.10.84 18 - - ¤1.2K 25.6.05 ¤300K - Koch, Andreas GK GER 13.7.71 32 - - ¤3.1K 9.6.06 ¤775K 16 Akoto, Erik D/DM C TGO 20.7.78 25 6 1 ¤725 4.6.06 ¤2.3M 2 Albrechtsen, Martin SW/D/DM RC DEN 31.3.78 25 3 - ¤1.8K 26.6.08 ¤2.7M 15 Bäcker, Sascha D/DM R GER 1.8.79 23 - - ¤3K 2.6.07 ¤1.2M 17 Benschneider, Roland DM LC GER 22.8.80 22 - - ¤4.5K 21.6.08 ¤1.6M - Berg, Dennis SW/DM C GER 21.8.84 18 - - ¤700 26.6.05 ¤160K - Dione, Ousseynou D C SEN 25.3.73 30 - - ¤4.6K 2.6.07 ¤575K 3 Döring, Nils D/DM L GER 23.4.80 23 - - ¤850 22.6.07 ¤1.2M 5 Lassissi, Saliou D RC CIV 15.8.76 26 2 - ¤7K 28.6.07 ¤600K 4 Lucic, Teddy D RC SWE 15.4.71 32 38 - ¤9.75K 25.6.07 ¤725K - Islamoglu, Cem D C TUR 4.9.80 22 - - ¤3.6K 5.6.05 ¤500K 14 Straub, Matthias D L GER 24.11.80 22 - - ¤2.9K 2.6.07 ¤1M 13 Wurm, Tobias D RC GER 31.3.82 21 - - ¤1.3K 2.6.05 ¤375K 6 Arzu DM RC ESP 17.3.79 24 - - ¤3.5K 2.6.08 ¤3.1M 7 Gastón Curbelo AM LC URU 8.4.76 27 - - ¤2.3K 8.6.07 ¤1.5M 19 Jailliti, Mounir AM RC FRA 24.10.79 23 - - ¤1.1K 9.6.06 ¤1.5M - Klein, Martin M LC GER 22.12.80 22 - - ¤450 2.6.05 ¤250K 20 Kotula, Jozef DM RC SVK 20.9.76 26 - - ¤4.9K 2.6.07 ¤1.6M - Loos, Lars DM C GER 16.3.87 16 - - ¤900 Rolling ¤275K 8 Truckenbrod, Jens AM C GER 18.1.80 23 - - ¤4.3K 2.6.07 ¤1.3M - Wohlfarth, Christian AM R GER 18.8.85 17 - - ¤2K 18.6.06 ¤1.3M 21 Zott, Tobias DM C GER 12.8.77 25 - - ¤4.4K 2.6.04 ¤325K 11 Atalan, Servet AM/F LC TUR 1.1.77 26 - - ¤3.5K 14.6.08 ¤1.5M 9 Graulund, Peter F LC DEN 20.9.74 28 - - ¤8.5K 24.6.08 ¤3.7M - Schlabach, Timo S C GER 5.12.80 22 - - ¤325 Rolling Free 22 Schöler, Tobias F LC GER 3.10.81 21 - - ¤2.1K 2.6.06 ¤1.2M 18 Woods, Ben AM/F RC ENG 9.5.81 22 - - ¤4.4K 8.6.08 ¤425K 10 van Buskirk, John S C USA 13.4.72 31 - - ¤6.5K 26.6.04 ¤2.2M </pre>

retired_rainmaker

The new season was opened with a visit from Union Berlin. After our good showing last year where we took four points from these clashes we expected to do so again.
We opened well with van Buskirk hitting the post twice in the first six minutes. Our deserved goal came a few minutes later when Graulund connected with a pass from Gaston to head us in the lead. Things went a bit pearshaped then with Berlin taking control. Two goals just before the break meant that we found ourselves trailing at half time despite having had several good chances. Things improved in the second half though. First Lassissi scored after a corner and then we regained the lead after a great attack. Graulund hit the bar and the ball dropped to Lucic who played Arzu who then found Woods. The young Englishman had no problems in scoring after that great show of passing which left the Berlin keeper fuming at his defenders.
This wasn't the end though. Just one minute later Ristic scored for Berlin before we had finished congratulating ourselves and then we were all square again. In the end we did get the three points when Lassissi had moved forward with the ball and then found Graulund in open space. With the defenders drawn toward the African the Dane had no problems in getting his second of the day and sealing our 4-3 win.

With those three points we were off to a good start, but we needed to do better defensively in the televised match against Hannover '96 who had been relegated from the Bundesliga. Luckily we had home advantage again and this gave me hope of a good result. With two offensive teams on the pitch it was bound to be an entertaining match and that also happened. We went down after 18 minutes and they had a terrific chance to double their lead when Almer brought down Vilner in the box, but the keeper corrected his mistake by saving the penalty.
In the second half we got a bit more concentration into our game and after Woods had had a goal ruled out thanks to offside we finally got our deserved equaliser when the Englishman found the net once again. On the sadder side of things we lost Döring to injury and Graulund also picked up a minor knock.

More problematic was two offers for our players. The one for Arzu was rejected, but the one for Lassissi met his release clause and this could mean that we would lose him to Karlsruhe for just €600K. Next Bochum tried to lure Graulund away for €3,7M, but I don't intend to sell off any important players if I can help it. Even Gombert were attracting interest.
The Lassissi deal was finalised just before our next game costing us our captain. Not good.

Straub moved in for Döring and Akoto replaced Lassissi as we travelled to Trier for our for away fixture of the season. Not the easiest place to start our games away from home as they are one of the relegated teams, but as they've had a poor start to this season their morale should be low and give us a decent chance. However, with half our defence gone it would be far from easy. Things got off to a bad start when Reis put Trier ahead with his for goal for the club... after 38 matches. Both Woods and Gaston scored before the break to give us the morale upper ground, though we were shaken by the loss of Jailitti just before the interval. This meant a debut for Beinschneider. We stood well defensively in the second half, but Almer was finally beaten in injury time when Trier pulled level to earn a 2-2 draw. Still, we're unbeaten so far.

To stop the hole after Lassissi we signed former Norwegian international Bård Borgersen for only €240K from Aalborg. While he is old, he is still very good and should be a good replacement until I can find someone for the future.

retired_rainmaker

For the trip to Mainz I was pleased to see that both Döring and Jailitti recovered in time to make the squad. New man Borgersen also slotted into the lineup as we looked to get back on the winning track.
We started positively looking for the early goal, but all of our efforts bounced off the fantastic Mainz keeper. Instead they took the lead and even though Graulund equalised we could only look on as Melunovic continued his rampage and added two more goals to his tally before the break. I tried a double substitution at half time as our midfield had had loads of problems containing Mainz, This immediately paid of as Atalan scored to leave us 2-3 down, but even though we attacked even more furiously then, there was just not enough we could do to beat their keeper and we suffered our first loss.

We got a bit of a blow then when van Buskirk injured himself during training and would be out for two months. At the same time I'm not expecting to hang on to Graulund due to his low min fee clause, so this was a good time to start looking for a striker to replace one or both players.

This did give me a problem selecting the team for our clash with Wehen in the German cup. Short term it wasn’t a problem as Schöler could take over, but this left me without any strikers on the bench. In goal I also decided to give Gombert a chance. Another new player in the first XI was Borgersen who would take this game as a leaning match getting to know the team.
As it was I had nothing to worry about. Arzu gave us a dream start with a goal in the first minute and braces from both Graulund and Schöler gave us an unasailable lead at the break. In the end we cruised to an easy 5-1 win and a place in the second round where we would face Greuther Fürth.

Offers were continually coming in for Graulund, always meeting his clause, but we had a loophole in the fact that they wanted to pay us over half a year allowing us to turn them down. We did ship off one player though as Gombert was sent on a season-long loan to Dresden.

We had the doubtful pleasure of having to face Lassissi as he came back to Siegen as part of a strong Karlsruhe team. While we had the last laugh after a fine 4-2 win thanks in part due to a brace from young Woods it was an expensive win as Graulund was carried off after just 15 minutes. Scans after the game showed that he will be out for a month and now we are seriously depleted in the striking department.

To help us out up front we quickly signed the 26-year old Russian striker Dmitri Kirichenko whom we had been following for some time. He has been capped for Russia B and is a nice allround striker. For some reason he never got a start for CSKA Moskva, so we were able to pick him up for the small fee of just £600K.

Kirichenko slotted right into the starting formation for our next game along with Truckenbrod who would also get his first start of the season instead of Jailitti. The match was away to Münster a team we really have to beat in order to maintain our ambitions. Though we had an early scare when they had a goal ruled out we soon asserted ourselves and after 37 minutes we took the lead. Albrechtsen found Arzu with a freekick. He quickly passed forward to Schöler who unselfishly found Kirichenko in the clear and allowed the Russian to celebrate his debut with a goal. A few minutes later the two reversed roles to double our lead and give us a good cushion. A red card to one of their defenders in the second half settled things and we ran our comfortable winners with a 4-1 scoreline.

With our good record against Greuther Fürth last year we aimed to do the double on them again as they came to Leimbachstadium. Interestingly enough our next home game will be against them as well, but only in the cup. With their team weaker than last year and us managing despite injuries, confidence was high.
The result was never in any real doubt after Schöler got the first of his three goals after just seven minutes. After that we had complete and firm control and as Woods and Kirichenko also found the net we gleefully collected another three points after a 5-1 victory. Their solitary goal was a bit of a fluke as it took a deflection on the way in. Even more amusing was the fact that it was scored by their “star” striker and it was his first goal of the season after seven goalless games. It does move us up to third on goal difference though and that is good.

retired_rainmaker

With such a good win we were full of confidence before our next game which was expected to be the hardest we had to play all year, the away fixture to St. Pauli who had already taken a clear lead. With a minor injury a few days before I was forced to rest Lucic for the clash and with such an exodus of players my hopes were low despite the high morale in the team. To my surprise we got an early lead when Gastón lost his marker and volleyed us ahead. Sadly we also had to substitute Truckenbrod at that time as he had mysteriously picked up an injury while unchallenged. St. Pauli quickly pulled level again, but at halftime the score was still drawn. In the second half they pushed hard for a goal forcing us to rely on counter attacking, but neither side got any closer to a goal than the shot hammered on the bar by Kirichenko. It finished with a share of the spoils at 1-1.

Scans after the game showed that Truckenbord had injured a leg muscle keeping him out for a month. To replace him Kotula was given a start in the fixture away to Gladbach. He had started to grumble about not playing and to be fair he is too good to have on the bench.
Of course we suffered another injury as Kirichenko was brought down and had to go off and, just to rub it in, they scored in the very next minute. Then we lost Döring and again Gladbach followed it up with a goal. Is a curse upon us? The players handled these setbacks quite well though. First Gaston pulled one back and then Schöler started his one-man show scoring 3 goals to set us on the road to an amazing 5-3 away win.

Both injured players would be out for three weeks, but at least we had Lucic, van Buskirk and Graulund coming back and ready to play.

The German Cup was up next and once again we were hosting Greuther Fürth. van Buskirk came back in for Kirichenko and Döring was replaced by Straub. Straub obviously felt he had a point to prove as he ran with the ball for three quarters of the pitch after 5 minutes and then set up Woods for the opening goal. Ten minutes later he himself scored and shortly after we made it three. Of course things were helped considerably by the redcarding of their keeper, but it was still impressive. In the end we ran out 5-0 winners to set up an appointment with the third round.

It appeared that once again we would be facing what I dubbed the strong teams in a short time once again as our next league game was at home to Die Löwen from 1860 München. We immediately seized the advantage when Woods found van Burkirk in the box and we took the all-important early goal. Just as we had scored early we also got one late as Woods scored five minutes before time to seal the win and ensure that 1860 gave up on trying to score. Final score: 2-0.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * German Second Division - Monday 13th October 2003********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Hannover 96 10 5 0 0 14 3 2 3 0 10 7 24 2nd St. Pauli 10 4 1 0 10 5 3 0 2 10 8 22 3rd SF SIEGEN 10 4 1 0 16 7 2 2 1 14 10 21 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Mainz 10 3 2 0 10 6 3 0 2 9 7 20 5th Braunschweig 10 4 1 0 14 4 0 3 2 6 9 16 6th Aue 10 3 2 0 11 6 1 2 2 6 7 16 7th 1860 München 9 4 0 0 6 0 1 1 3 5 10 16 8th M'gladbach 10 2 1 2 12 12 2 2 1 7 6 15 9th Trier 10 2 2 1 5 4 2 1 2 5 6 15 10th Karlsruhe 10 3 1 1 13 7 0 2 3 6 12 12 11th Ahlen 10 1 3 1 8 7 2 0 3 8 9 12 12th Duisburg 10 2 1 2 10 11 1 2 2 9 12 12 13th Union Berlin 10 2 2 1 9 7 1 0 4 6 12 11 14th Greuther Fürth 10 1 2 2 6 8 1 0 4 5 14 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15th Uerdingen 10 0 3 2 7 10 0 3 2 4 6 6 16th Schweinfurt 10 2 0 3 7 6 0 0 5 3 11 6 17th Münster 10 1 2 2 4 7 0 1 4 3 11 6 18th Erfurt 9 1 0 4 4 10 0 2 2 4 9 5 </pre>

retired_loubou

Nice story you've got going here

Push for promotion

retired_rainmaker

[]We're trying Bjorn, but I have a gut feeling that if we go up, then we will go straight down again very, very quickly. [/I]

-------

Of course the trees don’t grow into heaven and we had to be on our toes to continue our run and get something with us from Ahlen. We did get the perfect start though as Woods hammered us in front, but a strong Ahlen offensive quickly drove us back and levelled the score. While we took the lead just before the break it was very undeserved. In the second half they pushed hard for the equaliser, but time and time again Almer saved us. In the end it was settled as Graulund capitalised on a defensive blunder to seal the bag. 3-1 and we’re still riding high.

Once again we got a bid for Arzu, but the €3,1m offered by Kaiserslautern is no where near enough to prize away my treasured defensive midfielder. Perhaps, if they offered €5m, then we could talk about it, but his value to the team means that I’m not selling him.

We were actually full strength as Duisburg came to Leimbachstadion and this gave me a minor problem up front. In the end I decided on playing Kirichenko and Graulund together. Truckenbrod was not completely fit yet, but still it was close to our strongest XI so of course this should be a walk over. No! It was almost a complete reserve of our previous match. This time we had full control, but still conceded left and right as we crashed 2-4.

Once again we got an offer for Graulund meeting his clause, but it was still to be paid over six months. I told Werder Bremen that if they wanted to pay in rates, then €3,7m wouldn’t do it. They would have to cough up €7,5m. To my immense surprise they accepted and so did I. That amount of money is simply too much to refuse as we only paid €2m for him. They player also agreed, but as the transfer window had shut on buying players from lower German leagues we would still have him until the first of July 2004.

He had picked up a slight injury in training though, so van Buskirk was back as we made the long journey to face our pursuers from Aue. We got off to a disastrous start as we were two goals down inside the first ten minutes, but first Gaston pulled one back with a lucky shot that was deflected in and finally, just four minutes before full time, van Buskirk used his physique to hold off a defender and curl the equalising goal to 2-2 into the net.

In anticipation of Graulunds departure and the increasing age of van Buskirk we completed a massive and expensive deal for Greuther Fürths former German U-21 striker Nico Beigang. At just 22 years of age he would be of use for years to come, but at €3m straight up and €1,5m after 50 appearances he was pretty expensive.

After the less than optimal results lately I was happy that our next visitors was bottom side Erfurt. This was exactly what we need to get back on track. It would also give Beigang a chance to show the fans his worth. Frustratingly we actually continued our poor play and the opening goal from Döring was cancelled out in the 82nd minute. Just as I was prepare to let all hell loose after the game Gáston popped up deep in injury time to seal the points as he took an optimistic shot from 35 yards. While we won it 2-1 a draw would have been much more fair.

To complete the bad news we drew Hamburger SV away in the next round of the cup which, in all likelihood, will end our cup-run.