The premises ahead of the weekend were ideal for Köln. Having collected eight points from the last five matches they also managed to qualify for the DFB Cup quarterfinals during the week. Expectations to secure three points at home to Hannover 96 were high and not many believed this would actually result in a problem.

"A question about attitude"

Instead of the hoped-for three points, Köln suffered a sour 1-0 defeat and a relapse into old times. "I want to talk about the attitude that the team showed today," said FC-general manager Michael Meier. "If we manage to show the same degree of concentration as we did against Trier, then we would not have conceded that goal. We would have at least secured a draw, which would not have been satisfactory either. It's all a question about attitude," Meier continued.

Köln head-coach Zvonimir Soldo was also agitated about his team's performance: "This was our worst performance so far. The attitude was completely wrong. There was no commitment, no passion and no willingness to run the extra few yards. It was simply too little today."

Just one goal in the past five games

Köln relied too much on their defensive abilities and hardly conjoured up anything in the way of goal attempts. In the last five Bundesliga matches, Köln have managed to score a paltry one goal. With just six Bundesliga goals, the Rhineland club feature the poorest attack in the entire league.

"All of us, including myself, need to question why things aren't going our way at the moment," said crowd favourite Lukas Podolski. "We need to deliver a better performance in Berlin next week, if we don't, we might as well just stay home. We have a week's time now to recapture our self-confidence. We need to display a different mentality in Berlin to the one we did today, otherwise we wont have a chance there," explained the German international.

"Enormous pressure"

Köln's next Bundesliga opponent is Hertha BSC Berlin, who just like Köln have little reason to ooze with self-confidence at the moment. Last in the standings with just one point from their last ten games, Berlin are in urgent need of a result. Michael Meier hopes that his team will display a different attitude against Berlin. He believes that Köln show their true potential when faced with a lot of pressure.

"The pressure on us will be enormous when we face Berlin next weekend. Our next opponent at home will be Hoffenheim, which will also be a tough task. In both games I expect the team to come under a lot of pressure, but perhaps they can use that to their advantage," said Meier.