📉 Hero to zero in 3 weeks: Bundesliga coach fighting for his job

Three weeks are a long time in the Bundesliga sector. Often, a few games are enough to initiate a turnaround and give your own season a positive direction.

But sometimes, a stock that was once hot can fall more deeply in just three weeks than that of Volkswagen at the end of summer 2015.

At FC Augsburg, the latter is currently the subject. Because Sandro Wagner, recently signed as an hope and media draw tag, is surprisingly early in a difficult sporting situation.

In Augsburg, they could really sit and relax, if it was only external perception. Because Wagner delivers: a clear edge, catchy quotes and a press presence of an unknown extent before are the agenda in the city of Fugger.

Even more: the former cult attacker makes the FCA a subject of conversation beyond the limits of the city. And it is not an easy task in the sleeping Bavarian part of the Swabia. In short: Wagner makes the titles reliably.

It’s just a shame that the table has points, not the big titles. And it can quickly become uncomfortable.

The surprising opening victory of 3: 1 against SC Freiburg deceived many Bundesliga observers and was a bizarre result that would probably not have reproduced with a rehearsal ten times in the course of the game. If you take the expected value of the Goals, for example, the sports club should have won this match. The Augsburg team simply benefited from the opponent’s hairstyle errors and it is true that the very effective use of its own chances.

A week later, they managed to score two goals against FC Bayern, but the 2: 3 should not hide the fact that the FCA sometimes looked like a training partner for record champions.

More than the result, however, a sentence that Wagner made after the match remained. “I don’t see that we have less quality than Bayern,” he said boldly.

This statement may have been well intentioned, but the next disillusionment followed in Saint-Pauli (1: 2), before Mayenne really allows frustration in the soul of Augsburg: the city of Fugger lost 1: 4 and had to swallow the whistles of their own fans in addition to two objectives against the majority. With the exception of goalkeeper Finn Dahmen, he could have replaced all the players early, Wagner said later.

The lamentable provisional result: ten goals conceded after four games. Only union conceded more. Position of Table 16. No signs of euphoria.

Positive: the misery of Augsburg can in no case be attributed to the lack of professional knowledge of the young coach. Ex -Pro, past Bayern, estimated television analyst, promotion of the third division with Unterhaching, deputy coach of the national team – Wagner’s CV reads with impressive.

But currently, it seems a bit that he overloaded the team with his energy. Emotionally, tactically and in the media level, the city of Fugger has rarely received more contribution. The fact that Wagner often behaves on the bench like an angry rumpelstilts who is about to obtain a red card, probably does not help much.

The result: in a very short time, the coach, who is in fact very estimated, has lost many sympathies. When the sports results are missing, a minor driving in the form of yesteryear and catchy declarations rarely decrease well.

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And when someone like Mario Basler raises her finger on “Sport1” in Doppelpass, he sticks. No matter what you can think of “Super Mario” assessments.

His verdict: Wagner appears “arrogant” and “authoritarian”. Even more: Basling publicly doubts if Augsburg will stick to the 37 -year -old man throughout the season. His recommendation: first of all, they should make bread bread as small as the puppets of the famous box of Augsburg puppets.

In addition, the legend of the Friedhelm Funkel training wrote in “Kicker” that it “becomes more dangerous, the most boastful appears”. He also advised the young colleague: “The propagation of optimism is one of them. But we must always mix in a good dose of humility.”

These are exactly the discussions that the club wanted to avoid with the signature of Wagner. Instead of sinking into the battle of relegation, they dreamed of a sporty and tabular step. But currently, the motto must be to get something countable again.

The game outside in the unnecessary background of Heidenheim’s table arrives at the ideal moment. The Swabian opponent is considered by many experts as the weakest team in the Bundesliga and almost certain relegations. If you have to score points, then against Heidenheim.

But if Wagner and Augsburg were to lose again against the blatant foreigner of the Ostalb, not only the red lantern but also the first real crisis of this season threatened.

Of course, the club leadership will not (yet) dismiss Wagner in such a case. Five days of the match make a relegation candidate as much as a suction in the Europa League. But the mixture of bad words and missing results is very dangerous. And fans have already proven last weekend that their patience has limits.

Wagner is thus faced with his first real test in the high flight. He can speak, without question. Now he has to deliver. In a way, the former German football darling plays for his future against Heidenheim!

This article was translated into English by artificial intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Christian Kaspar -Bartke – 2025 Getty Images