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The Manager's View

'We're not going to hide, we want to win at home.'

Ahead of the home game against Hamburger SV on Saturday (15.30 CET) manager Skibbe offered a few insights.

Manager Michael Skibbe and a potential starter for Saturday, Aleksandar Vasoski

Hello Mr Skibbe. We're approaching the first home game of the season, what is the status re injuries?
Chris had to take a break this week caused by a flu. Also, after his groin operation he still has quite a bit of pain, so he cannot train full stop.

Also Mike Franz only was able to do light running with the team today. It would be important to have him in the team on Saturday.

Ricardo Clark needs rest for seven to ten days too. He's suffered from a ligament sprain and compression of a knee joint.

Is Aleksandar Vasoski an alternative if Maik Franz won't come back?
Of course he's an alternative. He played a few test games ahead of the season, plus he's an experienced and reliable player.

How do want to face the powerful Hamburg attack?
We want to avoid giving HSV's offense too much space to unfold. It will be a handful for our defense, but I'll try and prepare my team in the best possible way.

Goalkeeper Oka Nikolov is also out for a couple of weeks. What do you expect from Ralf Fährmann in goal?
Ralf has come along well at Eintracht. This is the chance to prove himself, noone expected it coming so quickly. Fingers crossed that he will do well, we have great trust in him. The situation is not totally new to him either, he played a few games towards the end of last season, and also in pre season friendlies.

What are your tactics against Hamburg?
Our goal is to play offensively, while avoiding counter attacks of Hamburg. We still have a few training sessions to position ourselves against the opponent.

After the defeat away to Hannover, does the team have its back up against the wall?
No, we don't have our back up against the wall. It's an important game, but it's at home and we have our fans behind us, giving us their support. We're not going to hide, we want to win at home.

(SK (HR))

Thursday, 26.08.2010, 20:15