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Both coaches troubled by defense

In their last game, these two teams received 14 goals in total. This would be understandable if their coaches advocated an offensive and attractive game, but they do not

After a fantastic defense in the first game, Biel completely collapsed in this segment. In the game against Kloten, they received 6 goals in the first 50 minutes, and they gave the impression that if the opponent had wanted to score any more goals they would receive more. This is troublesome for coach Schlapfer, because the backbone of his team  in the recent years was precisely their defense and the goalkeeper. Don’t forget, the goalkeeper in question, Reto Berra, is gone this season.

After the game, two foreigners Ellison and MacMurchy were criticized the most. Schlapfer came to their defense:

- We need to give them more time to adapt. We have to be patient, it’s not easy to blend into a new team after only a couple of rounds.

As for the changes in the roster, the recovered Untesander will be back on the ice, because of which Rouiller will probably watch the game from the stands.

- This is nothing personal. We will be rotating the defensemen. Today Rouiller will be in the stands, tomorrow it’s someone else - Schlapfer was clear.

The injured Haas, and extra players Lotscher and Fuglister will be in the stands as well. The appearance by the defenseman Ehrensperger is still in question, who left the last training early, because of a leg injury. His logical substitution is Sutter. 

When a team receives eight goals at home, it is hard to say something meaningful in their defense. Therefore, we will not try to justify Rappi after the last round. Although they were in the lead in the 35th minute of the game with 5-4, in the end they lost heavily. This would be understandable if coach Eldebrink was one of the coaches who would rather lose with 7-6 than 1-0. But, he isn’t… 

- After two good performances, this was very bad. Players failed to adhere to our agreement, and we fell apart on the ice. I always emphasize we need to play better defense, but this time it just didn't work - Eldebrink confessed.

After bad performances by his defensemen, he sought reinforcements. This resulted in Dan Weisskopf coming on loan from Bern.

- We had to react. Geyer was already injured, and now we lost Camenzind - noted the visiting coach. 

Camenzind was severely injured near the end of the last game, and when will he be able to return to the ice is still unknown.

I think Biel lost the most when compared to the last season. Their coach Schlapfer is trying to patch up the team the best he can, but that did not look so great so far. True, they played 0-0 against Zurich in the season opener, but the Lions have everything but efficient offense. After that they conceded 4 goals against Zug and 6 against Kloten. Today their important defensemen is questionable, their foreigners are under a lot of criticism and overall situation is not very good. On the other hand, Rappi have lost all three of their games and they do not look bad at all offensively. Their problem is defense and I do not want to risk whether they will concede 5 or 6 goals or even 8 as they did in their last game. But I am fairly sure they will score 3. They scored two against Lugano and Ambri which are defensively better teams (Ambri prior to Noreau's injury) with many missed chances. They scored 5 goals in the first 30 minutes against Lausanne. Today they will go for the win and they will have to score at least three goals to achieve it. Those braver among you may even risk with a smaller bet and predict visiting team's win. Rappi breached this margin 3 out of 4 times they played against Biel last season and they were not stronger offensively then while the home team lost the heart and the soul of their team after goalie Berra left.