1. FC Nürnberg: The darn last third

Robert Klauß had his upper body fully under control, he didn’t move a millimeter behind the press conference desk. However, the 1. FC Nürnberg coach visibly twisted the corners of his mouth. Nevertheless, Klauss kept the etiquette: He thanked him for the “warm words”, but immediately added that such words were a “bit difficult” here in Nuremberg, as they automatically entail high expectations. Klauss’s reaction was triggered by the statement made by his coaching colleague Aliaksei Shpileuski. He was with FC Erzgebirge Aue on Sunday afternoon in Nuremberg and was happy about the 0-0 on the first day of the new second division season. His joy about the point was so great because he classified the FCN as one of the “absolute favorites of the league”, which is why he ended his remarks with the sentence: “I am convinced that Nuremberg will end up in the top three places . ” This triggered Klauss’ facial response.

Statistically speaking, there were more than enough opportunities in the first 90 minutes of the season to get the corners of Klauss’ mouth moving during the game. The Franks made 20 shots on goal, but only three of them went to the goal of the experienced Aue goalkeeper Martin Männel. The lack of precision in the end was the FCN story of the first competitive game of the season. The decisions in the last third were either wrong, hasty or not consistent enough, explained the club coach. His players saw it similarly: Johannes Geis lacked “calm and cleverness”, Tim Handwerker lacked “accuracy”.

Klauß and Shpileuski have a common past at RB Leipzig: Shpileuski coached various Leipzig youth teams from 2013 to 2018, and Klauß also worked for RB during the same period. On Sunday they interpreted their roles on the sidelines quite differently: While Klauss sat quietly on his wooden chair on the Nuremberg track until shortly before half-time, Shpileuski paced up and down in his coaching zone, gesticulating and communicating a lot. Shpileuski had a lot to say to his players from the start as the club immediately dictated the game. The guests narrowed the space and took Nuremberg’s offensive trio Möller-Daehli / Shuranov / Borkowski mostly in man coverage in the last third with their defensive back three. “We knew it was going to be disgusting,” said Geis – and he was right. Club coach Robert Klauß trusted Florian Huebner, who had moved from Union Berlin to Nuremberg in the summer, in the defense center. In the attack, Klauss relied on the “Jugend forscht” department: Eric Shuranov and Dennis Borkowski are both 19 years old.

“We definitely had to suffer,” said Aues coach Shpileuski

Johannes Geis directed the club game well from the central midfield, his shifts to the flanks initiated promising actions several times, but the Franconians often lacked the train to the goal or the final precision. Representing this was Borkowski’s action in the 25th minute, when he placed a chip ball played directly by Geis from the edge of the penalty area well over the guest goal. The only really good chance of the first half was initiated by Nuremberg’s ten Mats Möller-Daehli: The Norwegian ran at speed over the left side towards the Aue penalty area and put the ball through to Shuranov. The young club attacker came to the end with a left from ten meters, but failed to Männel, who shortened the angle well and blocked the shot to the corner (33.). Aue did not play the few counter attempts well, twice in the person of Nicolas Kühn, the 21-year-old loan from FC Bayern Munich.

In the second half, the pressure from the club, fanned by 11089 loud spectators, increased – also because coach Klauss brought in Manuel Schäffler and Robin Hack two fresh offensive forces early on (59th). Borkowski went to the left wing, Hack circled Schäffler, and Möller-Daehli moved a little back into midfield. But there was still a lack of precision in the end: Borkowski tried it several times, for example after a fine pass from Geis (63.), but next to the goal. “We definitely had to suffer,” said Shpileuski.

At the last quarter of an hour, Klauß complained that his team had acted “a bit headless”. But he doesn’t reproach his team for that: “Better to go too far forward than play sideways,” was his motto. Geis added: “We fought and didn’t allow much. That has to be the goal in the second division.” If even better decisions are made near the goal in the near future, the club could actually do a lot this season.