Karlsruhe SC are in their second season the German top flight. After their promotion, KSC made an impressive start to last season, playing some excellent football and picking up 28 points after 17 games. For Karlsruhe, the aim in the first half of last term was to secure their status in the Bundesliga. They finished the season in eleventh place.

Da Silva disappoints

Coach Edmund Becker added to his squad during the summer but also saw two of his key players leave: Mario Eggimann moved to Hannover 96 and Tamas Hajnal to Borussia Dortmund. The gap was supposed to be filled by new signings Tim Sebastian, Antonio da Silva and Stefano Celozzi. The main hopes were placed on the Brazilian da Silva who came from Mainz for 1.2 million euros. He has not been able to live up to expectations in the first 11 games of the season and was left of the squad in the last fixture.

Four defeats in a row

Even if KSC do not not necessarily see themselves relegation candidates they have failed to set the world alight in their second season in the Bundesliga. Their results to date are the complete opposite of Bayer 04’s. Karlsruhe currently lie in eleventh place with three wins and eight defeats. They have lost the last four matches to Bayern Munich, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Schalke and Hoffenheim in succession and if that continues KSC will be more concerned with the bottom half of the table.