At the beginning, Jeff Saibene was somewhat cautious. In his first competitive game as head-coach of Arminia Bielefeld (against FC Würzburger Kickers) the coach encouraged his team to take a more reserved approach. In the end, Arminia played out a 1-1 draw on their new coach’s debut. It was a result which the Luxembourg trainer reacted valiantly to. "In retrospect, that one was down to me. At the time, I wasn’t courageous enough to encourage the lads to play the way we have in our recent games," explained the 48-year-old in an interview with the 'Neuen Westfälischen Zeitung'.
The recent outings against Düsseldorf and in Sandhausen, which the Arminia coach had referred to, were more successful – not least due to his side’s more courageous approach. In the game against Düsseldorf, Bielefeld secured a 2-1 home victory and followed up with a 3-1 win in Sandhausen. The coach explained the approach of his side as “pressing high up the park, putting our opponents, even the goalkeeper, under pressure.” Saibene continued: "A mixture of good organisation and aggression, along with positive activity when in possession and determined attacking football is my philosophy." On Easter Monday evening at 20:15 CET, VfB will be confronted by a committed Arminia side. And Arminia need all the courage they can muster, as they fight to avoid the drop into the 3. Liga.
In achieving the more promising results of late, the coach made a couple of brave personnel decisions. A victim of the tactical set-up preferred by Jeff Saibene, captain and goal-getter Fabian Klos has found himself initially filling a place on the substitute’s bench. The starting eleven somewhat surprisingly included Florian Dick, who had made his only appearance of the season back on matchday 7, but has since been an ever-present in the last three outings. Another positive aspect of late has been Reinhold Yabo, who made the move to Bielefeld on a loan deal from RB Salzburg during the winter transfer period. Unfortunately, the attacker dislocated his shoulder during the game in Sandhausen, although he did return to training in mid-week. "We’ll have to wait and see – he hasn’t trained since Saturday. He was exceptional in the last game but he was in pain. I hope he recovers well," stated Jeff Saibene through the Arminia website on Wednesday. Regardless of who takes to the pitch from the outset on Monday night, the Luxembourg coach will have a courageous and determined team to face VfB.