For months, Sandro Wagner had promised big things and achieved small things. Manuel Baum, on the other hand, achieved a win against fearful opponents Bayer Leverkusen in his first game as interim coach. How did he do that?
If you looked closely on Saturday afternoon, you would see an interim coach standing on the sidelines grinning mischievously at the kick-off of the Bundesliga game between FC Augsburg and Bayer Leverkusen. 2,435 days after his last Bundesliga game as head coach, Manuel Baum returned to the sidelines – in a black knitted sweater with FC Augsburg inscription. Baum previously described his comeback as “kind of cool”.
He had no idea how “awesome” December 6th, St. Nicholas Day, would be for the interim coach. After all, there was a mammoth task right at the start: an FCA battered by defeats and coaching difficulties against the Champions League heavyweight Bayer Leverkusen – no easy warm-up for Baum.
In the video: FC Augsburg – Bayer 04 Leverkusen – the highlights
Manuel Baum: “Keep it simple”
Only a few days earlier he had replaced Sandro Wagner. The courageous project with the novice trainer had failed; instead of changing their image from gray mice to more charisma, the Swabians found themselves in the last third of the table, with eight Bundesliga defeats in their heads and in their legs. Instead of following big words with deeds, there were no successes under Wagner. How do you deal with a team like that?
“Keep it simple,” Baum told the unsettled team – and suddenly the Fuggerstadt team looked again as if a win against their feared opponents was no big deal: Keven Schlotterbeck, Dimitrios Giannoulis and Anton Kade showed what they were made of in a straightforward and efficient manner. “I had the feeling that there was a real flow that we could enjoy,” said a satisfied interim coach after the 2-0 win. “I’m really happy for the players and the club.” In the run-up to the game, the 46-year-old compared being a coach to riding a bike: “You don’t forget that.” But that it would work so well straight away?
“We are looking forward and looking forward to the moment”
With his intention to keep it simple, he did exactly what Wagner often lacked: he stuck to the essentials. While Wagner lost himself in details and the small-small, Baum approached the whole thing without much chi-chi. Anton Kade also analyzed: “We didn’t play complicated football, but rather simple football, and it worked really well.”
Fast-paced Augsburgers, accurate Augsburgers and unlucky aluminum at Leverkusen made the XXL task seem easy. “At the end of the day, as a coach it’s about empowering the players,” said Baum into the BR24Sport microphone after the game. What worked better on Saturday than under Wagner? “I wouldn’t like to look back again, but we’ll just look forward and look forward to the moment” – and with that Baum says it all: few words, big deeds.
Audio: Interview with Manuel Baum after the win against Leverkusen
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Source: Blickpunkt Sport December 7th, 2025 – 9:45 p.m
