FC’s second weakest start to the season
The performance of 1. FC Köln in the 6-0 defeat at RB Leipzig on Saturday is still a big burden for coach Steffen Baumgart shortly before the cup game at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. On Monday, Baumgart did not want to continue preparing for the tricky task on Tuesday (from 8:45 p.m. in the TM live ticker) with the second division team, but rather publicly criticized his team.
“We won’t just let this pass us by,” Baumgart announced on Monday morning before a team meeting. “I’m curious to see how long it takes,” said the 51-year-old FC coach about the process. Immediately after the game in Leipzig he criticized his team’s attitude. Now the coach stepped up his game again and warned his professionals: “I always put myself before my team. But at some point it’s time for work,” complained the coach and added:
“If some people can’t implement that, I have to be even clearer. I’m doing a lot. What I don’t do is if no one knows what it’s about. (…) If you don’t understand that, you have to explain what the Bundesliga means. This is the highest league, we all work for it, we are proud of it. That’s what I expect to see. But I don’t expect to see us hang our heads and quit five minutes before halftime.”
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1. FC Cologne: Baumgart criticizes professionals – “Until then and no further”
“Defeats and mistakes are part of football and you can work through them. What you can’t process is body language. This is the first time I have experienced body language like this in my time here. I’m the wrong person. (…) Body language, attitude, mentality – all these things are always part of football. If I don’t bring body language to the pitch, then I have a problem. I was a player who only succeeded because of that. And that’s what I embody as a coach. If I have a team that doesn’t use body language, then I’m really pissed off at some point. I haven’t heard that from my boys yet. But now I have to say: Until then and no further,” Baumgart put his finger in the wound.
In the Bundesliga, Cologne are second to last in the Bundesliga with just four points from nine games and are in a direct relegation zone (to the table); it is the second weakest start to the season in the German top flight in the club’s history after 2017/18. In Europe’s top leagues, only four teams have currently scored fewer points (see the international form table). Baumgart sees his team in this region until the end this season. “The fact that we are having a very difficult year, that the relegation battle will come down to the last match day – that must be clear to everyone,” said Baumgart, who announced personnel changes for the cup game on Tuesday.
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