Without his defender Jean Hugonet, second division soccer club 1. FC Magdeburg must play its away game at 1. FC Nürnberg on Sunday (1:30 p.m./Sky). The 23-year-old was injured in last Friday's 1-1 draw against SC Paderborn. At the matchday press conference on Friday, FCM coach Christian Titz said it was a structural muscle injury. Titz did not want to commit to a time frame for Hugonet's absence yet. "We think that we will have clarity at the beginning of next week," said the coach.
In this context, Titz sees the strong substitutes' bench of the Saxony-Anhalt team as important. "We had lacked that in the previous season more often. It's not only good that we can now react in the game, but it also increases our training quality," Titz said, explaining that it was clear during squad planning before this season that they wanted to add different players and age structures.
In Nuremberg, Titz relies on the proven means of ball possession. "If you want control, you need the ball more. But both teams have that as an approach. For the duels, that means we have to assert ourselves, keep the distances close and get into ball possession over that," Titz said.
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