The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hannover-96-c39492 manager reckons that his side stands a decent chance of progressing further as they take on the in-form Belgian outfit in the UEFA Europa League.
Mirko Slomka reveals that his side is in decent shape at the moment and will start as favourites against Club Brugge in the Europa League fixture on Thursday, February 16, at the AWD-Arena. The fixture will be first of the two
legs of the last 32 encounter.
Slomka stated that the Reds possess a decent strike force and playing the first-leg at home could turn out in their favour. He explained that Hannover would look to build some early pressure on their opponents by scoring early.
Hannover are fresh from a 1-1 draw away to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/1-FSV-Mainz-05-c38166 in the Bundesliga whereas Brugge registered a 3-1 away victory to AA Gent in a Belgian Pro League game. One concerning factor for the home side is their inconsistency in scoring
goals. The German outfit has not scored more than one goal in their last five league games compared to their Belgian opponents, who have recorded 13 goals from their last five outings.
While talking to reporters ahead of the first leg, the former Schalke assistant further added:
"We have a good attack. We've been developing in a good way. You could see that in Mainz and we would like to build on that with a positive result against Brugge. Our plan is to force them into mistakes and keep the pressure high
on them."
On the other hand, the manager also reserved applause for his counterpart, Christoph Daum. He opined that the 58-year-old is a great tactician and it will be a bigger test of his players to play against Daum’s men.
"I think that this game is 50-50. Both teams are in good form. Christoph Daum is a special coach. I'm really looking forward to facing him on the bench. I'm excited about how his team will play against us. So both teams want to
move on and both teams know how hard the game will be," Slomka concluded.
Hannover qualified for the Last 32 by finishing runners-up in Group B behind Standard Liege, while Brugge won Group H leaders.
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