Augsburg after hanging tough to snap long winless skid: “The whole city needed this.” | OneFootball

FC Augsburg headed into Saturday’s Bundesliga fixture against Hamburger SV in desperate need of something positive. The struggles of head coach Sandro Wagner’s Fuggerstädter have been especially hard on the hometown fans. Two humiliating home defeats against Mainz 05 and RB Leipzig during the current campaign left Wagner flailing to defend itself. Augsburg entered Saturday’s match having lost their last three home matches. 

A 1-0 win over HSV wasn’t exactly the most emphatic statement, but at least (as has so often been the case this year) Wagner didn’t find himself in the awkward position of having to defend his slippery grip on his first major head coaching position. The 37-year-old expressed great relief when speaking to Sky Germany after the full-time whistle.

“As a young coach, it feels great when the team is focused and believes in the path,” Wagner told Sky. “That’s the only thing I can cling onto.“

“We haven’t won much at home over the course of the season,” Wagner added later at the post-match press conference. “We wanted to provide our spectators with a nice afternoon. We felt the pressure. 

“We’re very pleased with the three points,” Wagner continued. “And I’m very glad it proved worthwhile to the team. We had good interactions with the team and they worked very hard on defending.

“As [experienced former Bundesliga and HSV head coach] Huub Stevens once said, ‘it’s important to keep a clean sheet’ [when one’s back is up against the wall],” Wagner concluded. “He [Stevens] was my role model this week.“

“I’ll be honest, we really needed this,” FCA sporting director Benjamin Weber said in his Sky interview. “It feels good not just for us, but for the entire city.“

GGFN | Peter Weis