Augsburg are currently in 15th place in the Bundesliga and four points ahead of VfB Stuttgart. Since 16th is a relegation spot in the German top flight, Augsburg are truly in the relegation battle. The 39-year-old German Manuel Baum had been the head coach of Augsburg since December 2016.
Last year they finished in a solid 12th position. That result was good for the Bavarian club, especially when you consider their meagre budget. However, this season has seen several ups and downs. With six games to go, Augsburg find themselves in the relegation battle.
On 9 April, the Augsburg directors sacked Baum and announced Martin Schmidt as the new head coach. The question is now how Schmidt will set up his team and if Augsburg can stay in the Bundesliga. This analysis will compare Baum and Schmidt, and how their teams have played in the past.
Manuel Baum
The German was born in 1979 in a small city in Bavaria called Landshut. He is 5’7” but was nevertheless a goalkeeper back in the days. He played in his youth for 1860 Munich and later in his career for eight years at Ismaning. After that, he moved to Unterföhring where he played a further two years and then ended his career in 2008.
He started his career as a coach in 2011 when he was an assistant coach at Unterhaching for one year. Between 2012 and 2013 he was joint-head coach of Unterhaching together with Claus Schromm. After that, he was the coach of the Augsburg under-23 team until December 2016 when he took over the first team. Because of the bad performances of his team this season he got sacked on 9 April after they had lost 4-0 two days earlier against Hoffenheim.
Martin Schmidt
He was born in 1967 in Naters. The Swiss was active as a player from 1976 to 1998 for FC Naters and afterwards moved to FC Raron where he ended his career in 2001. Schmidt moved directly from player to assistant coach and from 2003 was head coach. In 2008 he took over the second team of FC Thun.
Two years later he became the head coach of the second team of Mainz. After five years he was promoted to take charge of the first team of Mainz in February 2015. He reached an incredible sixth place in the 2015/16 campaign in his first whole season as head coach.
However, in May 2017 he was sacked because of bad results before taking over Wolfsburg in September of the same year. He didnt even stay one season and resigned in February 2018. After a break of more than a year, he has now taken over Augsburg with a contract until the end of the season. In addition, the contract will be automatically extended until 2021 if Augsburg can stay in the Bundesliga.
Baum’s most important players this season
There are five players in Baums squad who formed the backbone of the team: Rani Khedira, Daniel Baier, Philipp Max, Michael Gregoritsch and Jonathan Schmid. Khedira, the younger brother of German international Sami Khedira, played in 26 out of the 28 games either in defensive midfield or as a centre-back. Defensive midfielder Baier has missed just one game due to a yellow card suspension. The 34-year-old German is also captain.
Max is the most courted man of Augsburg because of his incredible recent seasons and his solid performances this year. During the last campaign, the left-footer assisted 32% of Augsburgs goals. He mostly played as left-back but in some games, Baum lined him up as the left winger.
The other full-back in the team is Schmid, who moved to Augsburg in 2016. The last important player is the Austrian international Michael Gregoritsch who mostly performs as a striker or attacking midfielder. Baum rotated all the other positions a lot, partly to adjust his team to their opponents, but also to give every player enough chances to perform.
Augsburg’s defence under Baum
Baum preferred a 4-5-1 when the opposition were in possession. They often sat back and attacked their opponents as soon as they entered Augsburgs half. Thats why they had on average only 46.92% possession. Because of the three players in central midfield, the distances between the players were short and the two lines were close to each other. In light of this, there were almost no passing options through the middle for opponents.
Because of that, they forced the opponents into the wide areas where they pressed in at them. The striker was mostly positioned like in the image below. The pass into the middle isn’t possible because of his positioning. Considering this, the opponents must either play onto the wing where Augsburg can put pressure on the receiver, or play back. For now, there is no danger for the defence.
To maximise the chance of winning the ball, they try to create numerical superiority on the wing. The central midfielder or the near-side centre-back shifts over and supports the winger and the full-back. With that in mind, they create a numerical superiority that makes it easier to win back the ball.
