The An der Alten Försterei stadium of 1. FC Union Berlin stands out from other modern football venues because it cultivates a form of singularity. For example, through “DJ Wumme”, who goes by the name “Stadionmucker” during games and performs a so-called “playlist”. More precisely: a small but passionate act of resistance against the eventization of football. Most of the songs he plays are not known from mainstream party hit samplers, but rather from the cultural history of international punk rock.
It is not always obvious how the songs that the record entertainer chooses relate to the current situation of the team; This was the case at halftime of the Unions game against Augsburg. The score, which would remain the same at the end of the game, had already been established (2-0 for Augsburg), and the mariachi trumpet overture from Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire” was heard through the speakers: “I fell into a burning ring of fire/I went down, down, down/And the flames went higher/And it burns, burns, burns.” The reference? Well, Union has truly fallen into a burning ring of fire, it keeps going down, the flames are getting higher – and it burns, burns, burns: “We are in a relegation battle, that must be clear to everyone, we don’t need to talk about it,” muttered Steffen Baumgart, the new coach, when he was asked after the game what he had said to the team in the dressing room when he rushed them before the personal hygiene, which ended up being a good ten minute game called a team meeting – and she blew her hair before she took the shower, so to speak.
The announcement of a relegation battle was surprising in that one would have thought that the team had known about it for a long time. At the turn of the year, Union changed the coach for a reason. “Bo Svensson became No Svensson,” it said bitterly in the stadium magazine on Wednesday. The coaching change has so far backfired in a bizarre way: First, Union lost the friendly against relegation rivals Holstein Kiel, then the competitive games in Heidenheim and now against FCA – both 0-2. This is particularly bizarre because, according to a ruling by the German Football Association (DFB), Union actually has one point less than before Baumgart’s inauguration.
As a punishment for throwing a lighter from the Union fan block, the DFB sports court rated the game against VfL Bochum, which had originally ended 1-1, as 2-0 for the club from the deep west of the Republic. If the verdict were final – Union has announced an objection – Union’s gap to relegation place 16 (Heidenheim) would only be two points. The first direct relegation spot (Kiel) would be only five points away. Augsburg, on the other hand, pushed past Köpenicker into twelfth place.
Baumgart said he had decided on a system and would not “turn around” after two games
Berlin’s predicament is a consequence of a series that did not begin under Baumgart, but with a 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt at the end of October: Union has now added eleven Bundesliga games without a win. Nevertheless, Baumgart is at the center of debates. His first official act was to change the basically functioning basic order. Instead of defending with a five-man defensive chain, as Union has been doing for years, Union under Baumgart only lines up four players in the last row – with the aim of freeing one player for the offensive drive propagated by Baumgart. Baumgart rejected questions about this with embarrassment. “I have decided on a system,” he shouted, and even if it is “not set in stone,” he will not “turn around after two games.”
The second half provided arguments that it is not absolutely necessary either. After replacing left central defender Kevin Vogt due to injury, Union was more stable than in the first 45 minutes. There you could see more misery, especially on the left side, where Jérôme Roussillon provided evidence of his acute lack of match practice, than on the Berlin subway line 8. This was particularly the case with the goals conceded by Augsburg midfielder Alexis Claude-Maurice (9 ./30.) the case, which showed more football in its 75-minute appearance than Union has shown in the entire year so far.
And yet: The most urgent, acute problem with the change at Union seems to be that the Köpenickers are unfamiliar with the positioning in the build-up game. The result: lots of unnecessary ball losses. On top of that, when they won so-called “second balls,” the Unioners “thought too much about what they could do wrong” and/or sometimes “lost track,” as Baumgart diagnosed, as well as a few missed scoring opportunities.
Beyond the fact that it would be advisable to shoot the ball “into the goal” and not just miss it, as Baumgart suggested, Union is also currently struggling with atmospheric tensions. The Croatian international Josip Juranovic was not in the squad, nor was Yorbe Vertessen; Baumgart apparently gave the Belgian attacker an enema these days. He told him that he expected him to deliver “every day.” He expressed it so clearly that he was in good spirits and that Vertessen understood it.
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