KAlmost 91 minutes are played when Stuttgart’s Tanguy Coulibaly turns his back on Augsburg’s Arne Maier. Coulibaly wants to secure the ball. At first he succeeds and Maier just stumbles behind. There isn’t a situation that can’t be settled by plucking a shirt and Coulibaly slides across the lawn. Yellow for Maier and Augsburg. Nothing new for the bottom of the fair play table.
How to behave in a relegation battle
“If you’re stuck in a bit of a relegation battle and then a team comes from Stuttgart that really needs the points, it’s clear that we’ll give our all in every duel,” Augsburg’s Ermedin Demirović defended his five yellow carded teammates.
A bit stuck in the relegation battle, which means that FCA have not won five games in a row and are currently in 13th place. Stuttgart is sixteenth and should have been more pessimistic had it not been for the shadow of an impressive final phase against Borussia Dortmund last matchday (or rather hopes) thrown ahead.
10 minutes were played when Elvis Rexhbechaj made a small turn around Borna Sosa and found Arne Maier. He crosses straight to the head of twenty-one-year-old Dion Beljo. Along with nineteen-year-old regular Arne Engels from Belgium, Beljo is one of the lucky winter signings for FC Augsburg. The 1-0 lead is also due to the fact that Stuttgart’s three-man defense gives the incoming Croat Beljo a lot of freedom.
The 1:0 shows one of FC Augsburg’s great strengths: benefiting from the opponent’s mistakes. However, it would not do them justice to reduce this to just the exploitation of scoring chances. Concentrated defensive work including tough duels are also part of it. This results in football that is reliably grumbled about by various opposing teams and fans, but it is a great asset if you are a little bit or even a little bit more involved in the relegation battle.
Flight insert: Augsburg’s Dion Beljo heads the goal to make it 1-0
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Image: dpa
After all, FC Augsburg has not been relegated since it was promoted to the first division more than ten years ago. The Stuttgart team, on the other hand, stood out as a classic elevator team – and this elevator got stuck in the basement against the Augsburg team in the first half.
VfB goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow sums it up as follows: “It wasn’t good today” – didn’t move up well, wasn’t compact on the offensive and didn’t do enough depth. But there is still a second half – and other teams that could be relegated.
How is the competition?
The ranking from “a little” to “very” in danger of relegation is as follows on the 29th match day: 1. FC Köln is in eleventh place with 32 points. Werder Bremen also have 32 points but are currently in a winning streak. Behind Augsburg in 13th place is TSG Hoffenheim (29). After a draw against Bayern Munich and before that three wins in a row, they are one of the teams in strong form at the moment.
No beauty prize: Stuttgart’s Wataru Endo pokes the ball into the net to equalize
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Image: dpa
VfL Bochum (27) is stagnating in 15th place with the worst goal difference in the league, followed by VfB Stuttgart (25). Seventeenth is Schalke 04 (24), a team that scores few goals, but then won 5-2 against Hertha BSC and is now two points ahead of the Berliners (22).
A yellow card is followed by a free kick
There was another story about the yellow cards in the relegation duel on Friday evening in Augsburg. The man-oriented defense of FC Augsburg required a lot of energy – and when that was relatively exhausted around the 70th minute, the players were often late. In the 77th minute, Rexhbecaj pushed Silas from behind with both arms. A free-kick and a long cross from the half field followed from Tiago Tomas, which sailed to Wataru Endo. The ball only bounced between Endo’s legs, when he had sorted himself, he first shot Tomas Koubek in goal – but the follow-up shot was spot on.
It remained 1-1 and the point makes it a bit more likely that away fans will be able to complain about the way Augsburg play in the next Bundesliga season. Exactly how Stuttgart goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow finds this style of play remains undecided: “I think Augsburg showed a very good side today. Above all defensive, extremely disciplined, extremely toxic and aggressive.” Very good, toxic and aggressive – or as Elvis Rexhbecaj says: “I think it was an attractive game”.