The Augsburgers tried to radiate serenity afterwards, but most of their words said something else. The discrepancy was particularly large for Stefan Reuter. They were “totally disappointed”, the second goal was “too cheap”, “we’re sleeping there”, said the managing director of FC Augsburg. In addition, the team needs “more stability” and “fewer goals conceded”, each of which is “extremely painful”, especially since there is a lack of determination in the game going forward.
In his list, Reuter only named the most noticeable deficits. But despite this sobering appraisal, he tried to be demonstratively confident, although in addition to his own 1:2 (1:2) defeat against SC Freiburg, the results of the competition had not given much reason for this. The victory of Bielefeld, the draw of Stuttgart and the worsening situation for FCA in the relegation battle? “We know that the situation is difficult. That’s nothing new for us either,” said Reuter. And these have always been mastered.
It is also a belief in one’s own history that FCA’s optimism is based on. Since the promotion in 2011, the promotion has indeed always been achieved, sometimes late, but reliably. Like last season, when a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen in the last home game secured them staying in the Bundesliga. Because of this experience and this resilience, he is “confident that the team will fight back and cope well with the situation,” said Reuter. And yet he couldn’t help but draw up an alarmingly long list of deficiencies after the first home defeat against Christian Streich’s Freiburger in what was now his eleventh year in the Bundesliga.
The visitors took the lead in the fourth minute when Roland Sallai crossed and Nils Petersen headed the ball home. After a counterattack, Michael Gregoritsch quickly equalized with a well-placed left-footed shot from around 20 meters (16′). But the Augsburgers were just as quickly behind again because they inattentively defended a short free-kick. Goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz couldn’t hold on to Christian Günter’s low cross from the right, Freiburg central defender Nico Schlotterbeck pushed in the rebound (26′).
There has only been one win in the past eight games
“The goals were clearly avoidable,” said assistant coach Reiner Maurer, who had replaced head coach Markus Weinzierl because of his corona infection. Maurer also saw reason for optimism, although the attacking efforts had seemed increasingly helpless in the second half and, apart from two late chances by Gregoritsch and Alfred Finnbogason, no danger had arisen. After all, Maurer was able to praise the “passion” of the team. “We’re thinking positively,” he said, “I think we’ve accepted the relegation battle one hundred percent.”
However, Augsburg have only won one of their last eight games (2-0 against Union Berlin). Their lead over the penultimate VfB Stuttgart is still three points. And the relegation competition between Hertha BSC and Arminia Bielefeld is still within reach. Nevertheless, the table for the sixteenth gradually takes on more threatening features. From the Augsburg perspective, next Sunday would be a good time for a positive surprise. Then Borussia Dortmund comes to FCA.