It looked briefly as if Steffen Baumgart wanted to do without the captains at Union. Then Christopher Trimmel and Rani Khedira made themselves again.
The Gauls in the Asterix comics are only afraid that the sky will fall on their heads. What was indicated at the 1st FC Union Berlin in January would have been similarly bad for many die -hard Unioner. The then new coach Steffen Baumgart was looking for the right line -up. After two defeats at the start, he set the two team captains Christopher Trimmel and Rani Khedira on the bench in his first victory against Mainz 05 and only brought them in the final phase. The “Berliner Kurier” quickly explained the duo to “hardship cases”.
Half a year later it’s just a pale memory. Both players have extended their contracts. Before the preparation start, a Union elf without Trimmel and Khedira is again like the past few years: hardly imaginable.
Exterior view of the main grandstand of the stadium on the old forestry
Baumgart gets all of his points with Trimmel
With regard to Trimmel, Baumgart should only have asked his predecessor Bo Svensson. When the trimmer put on the bench in the first half of the season, Union lost 2: 3 after 2-0 lead at VfB Stuttgart. Without the experienced right -back, the defensive collapsed under Stuttgart’s print. After that, Svensson was counted.
Steffen Baumgart had a similar experience. After the victory against Mainz, Trimmel was outside. Four defeats followed without him. When Baumgart got really serious for Baumgart after a total of seven points from his first nine games, he then brought Trimmel from the beginning and was rewarded. Union won 2-1 in Frankfurt. The 38-year-old had prepared the important balance with one of his dangerous corners.
After the game, the relieved Baumgart praised: “It was extremely important for this game to have the captain on the lawn, and he also showed that.” Trimmel showed a very good performance and brought calm, the trainer who did not get a single 24 points without playing Trimmel found. Now Trimmel goes into his 12th season as a “iron”.
Khedira stabilizes the team
Rani Khedira is not that far yet. He has only been playing for Union since 2021. With his most recent contract signature But he indicated that he wanted to stay for a while. He feels that his time at Union is far from over, says Khedira. Steffen Baumgart also felt the same thing after the 0: 3 against St. Pauli after putting the defensive midfielder on the bench. In the remaining 15 games, Khedira missed only 33 minutes and made an important contribution to the early relegation with his goal against SC Freiburg.
“When I came, I felt that he was in a small hole,” said Baumgart at the end of the season. But the “absolute professional” Khedira worked out of it and then again demonstrated his leadership for the team. Union needs his organizational talent on the pitch and his work against the ball to concede a few goals. Khedira is one of the best midfielder in the league in duels, successful tackle, intercepted passports and won header duels.
Playful Further development difficult to imagine with Khedira
Although Andras Schäfer and Alex Kral two national players, with Lucas Touven’s a former 25 million transfer and with Aljoscha Kemlein, a German top talent only came to the team after Khedira, nobody was able to push him out of the starting eleven sustainably. It ran too bad when he didn’t play.
However, this is probably also one of the reasons why no coach at Union has managed to sustainably improve the possession game in recent years. As strong as Khedira defends, his deficits in the game structure are so big. He usually leaves it completely to the central defenders.
After a pass rate and number of his successful passes, most of the regular middle field players in the Bundesliga are better than Rani Khedira. So Baumgart faces a dilemma: if he waives Khedira, the team is missing and the defensive stability suffers. If he wants to let him play it, Baumgart needs a construct in which other players can intercept Khedira’s limited ball.
Trimmel continued
Good for Baumgart that he has to worry less about Trimmel. The fact that his standards are still among the best in the Bundesliga makes him a weapon whenever he plays. But even in the current game, the Austrian rarely noticed the advanced football age. The fastest player has never been Trimmel, but his above -average defensive statistics prove that this does not prevent him from getting into the duels.
As long as Christopher Trimmel is fit, there is no valid reason to do without him. Provided that Baumgart does not want to press significantly more aggressive. Only then could the speed deficits of his captain be a real problem. But if Union actually develops into an offensive team in the new season, it would really feel like the sky on their heads for the Köpenickers.
