Ondrej Duda becomes a longtime favorite at 1. FC Köln. The forward has been in the starting eleven since mid-September. Due to Dejan Ljubicic’s injury, the 27-year-old should also be set in the upcoming games.
In the Europa Conference League play-offs, Ondrej Duda was completely out of a match at the start of the season. In the three matches of the competition rounds, however, the number ten was always in the starting XI. In the Bundesliga, the Slovakian has also been a starter in four of the last five games. In all competitions, Duda has played the last six official matches in the starting lineup of 1. FC Köln. No other player on the pitch in the FC squad currently has such a streak to show. Only Marvin Schwäbe has played more games in a row from start to goal.
This also means that Duda is one of the few players not to be affected by the rotations between the Bundesliga and the Conference League. While Jonas Hector and Dejan Ljubicic drop off the bench from time to time, top performers such as Florian Kainz, Timo Hübers and Ellyes Skhiri were out for more than 90 minutes due to load control reasons.
Duda usually only an hour on the field
Duda, on the other hand, was recently allowed to continue despite partially expandable performance. However, the 27-year-old hasn’t played more than 90 minutes this season. As a rule, Duda always ends after about an hour. The setter only spent 81 minutes on the pitch against Partizan Belgrade. Even after his early substitution against Stuttgart, Duda was allowed to play 73 minutes.
Due to Dejan Ljubicic’s injury, who probably won’t play another match this calendar year, Ondrej Duda is expected to continue playing for the time being. The Austrian had often acted as an alternative to the ten at the beginning of the season. Mark Uth, on the other hand, will have to increase his minutes in the coming weeks. After his mandatory nine-week hiatus, Porzer is still not an option for the starting eleven. Most recently, Uth got nearly 20 minutes as a prankster. Mathias Olesen will also be missing for a long time from Cologne in midfield.
As low as eleven out of ten options remain rare
So the initial eleven options out of the ten are currently few and far between. Denis Huseinbasic temporarily took over the position on Sunday against Gladbach for Duda before Mark Uth arrived. Jonas Hector could also play there, but this experiment failed against Union Berlin. And so Ondrej Duda is likely to continue expanding his starter streak in upcoming games. However, that’s not certain: after all, FC manager Steffen Baumgart is always ready to surprise when it comes to his lineup.
