Result crisis with Augsburg
© Imago
After three winless games in a row, Sandro Wagner experienced the first little crisis early on with FC Augsburg. The extroverted new coach is particularly criticized in the media. “I’ve been in public for a few years now, but as a Bundesliga coach it is a bit different. If you put one out there, that will be carved around your ears,” said Wagner in the “Sky” interview before the away game on Saturday (3:30 p.m./Sky) in Heidenheim.
After the promising kick-off against SC Freiburg (3: 1), after tight defeats against FC Bayern (2: 3) and St. Pauli (1: 2), it was finally a 1: 4 home clap against decimated Mainz. Wagner had previously caused a surprise with one or the other statement. Above all, his assessment that his team has no less quality than Bayern was criticized by many experts.
Nevertheless, the task is still “still really fun. It is a hammer job. It is totally cool. One thing is in the content: what kind of idea do you have? How quickly can you implement such an idea as a group? “I already feel massive pressure, but I felt it from day one. When I speak to the Bundesliga trainer colleagues, they feel all massive pressure. But I knew that beforehand and luckily it doesn’t matter to me. I can handle it well.”
Wagner does not want to be the focus of FC Augsburg
Wagner, who was previously assistant to national coach Julian Nagelsmann, is not the focus. “If you are here, then not so much about me. If a player drives after or a trainer, the team, the employees, then you see that this is about the FCA and not about myself. I said from the beginning that I would like to be more about the team. That is why you see me as little as we win. If we lose, I want to protect my group.
The main goal is to give the fans joy with football. “That is the only thing that drives me,” said Wagner. “I do my job, try to do it as well as possible.” Against Heidenheim you have to do a lot better than against Mainz. “In terms of content, tactical, but also in various mental areas, in the energy level. We have been together for two months now, have four game days in the Bundesliga and want to develop quickly. We have seen topics that are in need of improvement. We have spoken out this week and hopefully take them with us. We had a cool content in which we could really train a lot. Everyone was extremely fun.”