As I said in my preview of Holstein Kiel’s DFB Pokal match against Bv09 Borussia Dortmund at the weekend, I am not happy with the northerners at the moment. They’ve been seriously poor since returning from their Covid-19 break, and their heavy defeat was yet another nail in their coffin lid. I daresay most folks wouldn’t bat an eyelid at such a one-sided scoreline but anyone that watches both of those teams regularly knows what it came about because Kiel didn’t show up – and Dortmund aren’t going to overlook such generosity!
The break hasn’t done promotion hopefuls Kiel any favours whatsoever. They’re playing like they’re half asleep at the moment. I mean, I can appreciate that Nurnberg are playing better now that they’re not fearing relegation but to be horribly outplayed by them is not good enough, at least not for a team like Kiel. Honestly, Nurnberg had them hemmed in, even when 1-0 up, smelling blood. They rattled the woodwork twice in the early exchanges of the second-half, and should have been two or three up by the time Kiel’s substitutions managed to turn the tide enough for an equaliser to be scored.
I know Kiel need to win tonight, but they are showing no signs of doing such, and this is their fourth game in ten days, which is way too much for any Bundesliga 2 team. Morale is low, effectiveness isn’t there, and belief is waning. It’s a shame, because I’d love to see a team with Kiel’s enthusiasm and drive in the Bundesliga, but unless things take a very swift detour, I can see them failing tonight. They may have a lot of games in hand on the teams around them, but they’re being forced to play them all in a short space of time, and without momentum they’re not going to win enough to go up.
SV Sandhausen are very much in survival mode right now too, which will make Kiel’s task even harder tonight. The visitors have already taken points off Hamburger SV and Hannover 96 lately, and came bloody close to taking some off Greuther Furth too. I’d like to remind you all that, despite their poor campaign, SV Sandhausen actually have a pretty good squad. All they needed was a bit of momentum to stave off the threat of relegation, and they have that. They’ve got some horrible away games remaining this season but with the way they’re playing, nothing looks beyond them.
The positives are endless for SV Sandhausen right now. For example, Keita-Ruel is back amongst the goals, new boss Kleppinger has found a style that suits his players after he was appointed in February, Esswein has settled in brilliantly, Contento has been fitter than usual, and even Behrens is going above and beyond at the moment. Their only negative is that the man they signed to score goals for them in January, Schmidt, is still out! Things feel positive at SV Sandhausen, though. They’re confident, and they’re troubling lots of teams. A struggling Kiel should really whet their appetite tonight.
For me, backing the visitors to avoid defeat in northern Germany makes sense here.
