It is no surprise Heiko Herrlich heads south full of respect: "It will be a very tough task. Augsburg have shown what they can do once or twice this season including the home win against Leipzig. They certainly won't give anything away. They're top opponents and we can't afford to take them for granted," warned the Bayer 04 head coach at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
The 45-year-old does not see the recent run of success of his team, including last week's derby victory, as a reason to relax. On the contrary. Even nearing the European qualification spots is of secondary importance for the Werkself coach. "The most important thing is consistency. The results have been right in recent games and we deserved them all in the end but in one or two situations we definitely had our lucky moments – in contrast to the start of the season."
Massive competition
"We want to stay on track and definitely want to get a result tomorrow – of course, three points would be best. We did it at Mönchengladbach and now we’ll try to get a win against Augsburg," said Herrlich. That's why it was important to him to continue to maintain the intensity in training sessions during the week – as in the run-up to the derby. "All my players have to be aware that we can only win against Augsburg tomorrow if they all play to 100 per cent their ability," demanded Herrlich before adding: "I hope everybody's understood that."
It seems highly likely that Heiko Herrlich will have almost a full squad to choose from in Augsburg. The exception is Tin Jedvaj who is still working on his comeback after returning to full training this week following his recovery from a hairline fracture to his shin. There is also a slight question mark over Sven Bender. The defender, who has scored in each of the last two games, was struggling with the effects of a bout of flu but he declared himself fit for the final pre-match training session. "It's the best possible situation for the club and the coach if all players are healthy and in good shape – even if I'm spoiled for choice and that can make it difficult. But it's always a case of deciding to pick somebody and not be against a player. You have to be able to explain that to them. Up to now the lads are fully behind us and behaving in an exemplary manner," said Herrlich in describing the massive competition for places in the squad.
Shared past with Manuel Baum
The match at Augsburg is also an encounter between former colleagues. When Herrlich accepted the position of coach with third division SpVgg Unterhaching and was looking for an assistant he came across a newspaper article on the current head coach at Augsburg Manuel Baum. He met the former district league coach and appointed him as assistant. The pair worked successfully together for a year. When Heiko Herrlich decided to stop for personal reasons, Baum became head coach at Unterhaching. Herrlich is still full of praise for his former assistant: "You inspire each other. I've learned a lot from Manuel Baum particularly in the areas of methodology and principles of teaching. I'm happy about the progress he's made in recent years. He did a great job at FC Augsburg in structuring the youth section – all the teams play at a great level. And he became head coach at Augsburg a year ago. I'm very happy for him."
Some 600 Leverkusen fans are expected to support the Werkself at Augsburg.
