Kovac ponders Dortmund changes for Augsburg clash
Niko Kovac hinted that he could rotate his Borussia Dortmund team for its clash with Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday after midweek DFB-Pokal action.
Kovac watched on as his team played out a 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, needing extra-time and penalties to book its place in the last 16 after Gregor Kobel's heroics.
Dortmund has not beaten any other team as often in the DFB-Pokal this millennium as Frankfurt, winning all four of their previous meetings in the competition.
But Kovac and BVB's attention now turns to league action, with a trip to WWK Arena offering the chance to close the gap to leader Bayern Munich at the summit of the table.
Dortmund is fourth in the table on 17 points after their narrow 1-0 win over FC Koln last time out, though Kovac revealed that he could ring the changes for this match.
Of those players that featured at Deutsche Bank Park on Wednesday, only six of those started Dortmund's last league victory.
Kobel, Nico Schlotterbeck, Waldemar Anton, Daniel Svensson, Julian Ryerson and Karim Adeyemi were those who played both matches.
"That's necessary. If you want to maintain the intensity you've implemented, then you have to let everyone play," Kovac said of the need to have everyone firing in his squad.
"We have a great team, I trust every single player. When we have everyone available, then it's very difficult to beat us."
Kovac did, however, confirm that defender Niklas Sule would not be part of his travelling squad after picking up an injury against Eintracht, while Ramy Bensebaini will return.
"They came through the cup match well. The only one with problems is Sule. He has a swollen toe," Kovac said. "[Emre] Can and [Julien] Duranville are making progress. [Ramy] Bensebaini will return to the squad."
Dortmund's hopes of extending its unbeaten run to four games in all competitions will be high against an Augsburg side languishing down in 15th after eight games.
It was were thumped 6-0 by RB Leipzig in its last league match, its heaviest home loss in the Bundesliga and joint-second largest overall in the top-flight.
Augsburg has also only won two of its last eleven Bundesliga home matches, both against Wolfsburg, drawing three and losing six of those games.
