Augsburg’s Sandro Wagner compares coaching stumbles to playing career: “It’s never been easy for me.” | OneFootball

Bundesliga club FC Augsburg enter the November international break in absolute free fall, losers of five matches on-the-bounce. The Fuggerstädter couldn’t manage to even draw a fixture between the October and November breaks. League competition (Köln, RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund, and VfB Stuttgart) was obviously touch, but a second round DFB-Pokal elimination against Bochum at home still smarts. 

Head coach Sandro Wagner’s team did well to recover from a 0-6 home shellacking against Leipzig with decent home performances against Bochum and Dortmund. Augsburg conceded just one goal against their respective opponents in the next two home matches. Though the Bavarian Swabians let in three against Stuttgart, Fabian Rieder and Han-Noah Massengo were at least able to notch tallies themselves. 

“We’re performing well, but still losing,” FCA sporting director Benni Weber noted in the mixed zone on Sunday evening. “When one loses, it’s total crap. We’ve shown that we can be decisive both in victory and defeat. We’ve [also]\ had some tight refereeing decisions go against us. We’ve been close to picking up not just one point, but rather three.“

Wagner concurred with Weber’s assessment at the post match press conference. Like his sporting director, Wagner also insisted that his coaching staff and the club administrative team remained committed to staying the course together until the team can re-gain form. 

“From a content perspective, [what we just delivered] was good,” Wagner said at the presser. “Even if it was disappointing from a points perspective. My career has never been easy. From the U8s at FC Bayern, I’ve always had headwinds and fallen down an incredible number of times. The important thing is to keep going and stay positive. That’s what I do.”

Wagner’s infamous playing career (which began at Bayern and then saw him struggle for numerous other clubs in the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, and 3. Liga) certainly was one that featured plenty of adversity. Wagner only earned German national team call-ups after he returned to Bayern near the tail-end of his professional journey. 

“I don’t want us playing the victim,” Weber added. “I won’t permit that, most especially from myself. We have to digest this now. We’ll force the issue. There are no guarantees, particularly in this current run-of-form.”

GGFN | Peter Weis