2024-04-23 05:35:59
The long-time Bundesliga coach speaks clearly about Steffen Baumgart‘s work at Hamburg – and sharply criticizes the coach.
It has been almost a certainty for all Hamburger SV fans since Saturday: the former Bundesliga dinosaur has once again lost all chances of returning to the top German league with the 0-1 defeat against Holstein Kiel on Saturday. With a six point deficit and a significantly worse goal difference (minus 16) to third-placed Fortuna Düsseldorf, HSV is threatened with a seventh second division year in a row. The focus now: Coach Steffen Baumgart. The former coach of 1. FC Köln took over HSV in mid-February and was supposed to return to the Bundesliga. Since then, Baumgart has only picked up eleven points in eight league games.
Now there is sharp criticism from a big name: Christoph Daum considers the Baumgart commitment to be a “huge mistake”. Because you don’t get promoted from the second league with “full-throttle football, but by setting up a death zone 30 meters in front of your own goal, into which ideally no opponent can penetrate,” said the long-time football coach in an interview with the football magazine “11Freunde” ( Tuesday). “But for that you need square players. Trying to force promotion with attractive, always-on-the-front football borders on kamikaze,” said the 70-year-old.
Cologne? “I assume that FC will be relegated straight away”
Meanwhile, Daum expects his former club 1. FC Köln to play in league two alongside HSV next season. “As sad as it sounds, I assume that FC will unfortunately be relegated straight away,” said Daum, who coached Cologne twice for several years. VfL Bochum will probably no longer end up in the relegation vortex, and “when I compare FC with Mainz 05, I can’t imagine how the club wants to grab the straw of relegation.”
You can feel the turmoil in the game facility among the people of Cologne. “After years of Baumgart’s ‘what does the world cost?’ football, Schultz has now switched to security and counter-attacking, which some players probably haven’t yet caught on to. Especially since FC simply lacks outstanding defense for solid defensive football,” said Daum. Cologne with Baumgart’s successor Timo Schultz (46) is second to last, five points behind 15th in the table. Mainz and 16th from Bochum.