Football – 2nd Bundesliga: At the 1st FC Magdeburg “Looking all of Germany”

Perhaps an anecdote is enough to explain why a special club is currently preparing with the 1. FC Magdeburg to knock on the gate to the first division. The FCM still has three games in front of her in the 2nd Bundesliga. Three games in which SC Paderborn and Fortuna Düsseldorf decides against Prussia Münster, whether you stay on relegation place three or maybe even rise directly. Or whether the Magdeburg footballers just played a surprisingly strong season. Other clubs hedge in such hot phases, order secret training, block the press and put the players on macrobiotic diet. The Magdeburger, who held a fan evening on Wednesday evening – and not there not any grandstand stool from the club, but the marketing manager, the head coach and the sporting director.

Unconditional noise

It is so remarkable that it is, until the canonization, it will also take a while at the handball players of SC Magdeburg. Because of course the proverbial fan closeness of the association is also in his own interest. The FCM may do remarkable work in terms of sport (not only since yesterday), and it is perceived nationally by the force of his fan scene. What the “Block U” sets up for home games is a case for the noise protection regulation. It gets five digits away, against Hertha BSC to the Berlin Olympic Stadium, 15,000 fans made a pilgrimage last weekend. “I am enthusiastic about the unconditional support of our fans, whether at home games or away,” said coach Christian Titz at the fan evening. “No matter whether the game was successful or not. That’s why I say unconditionally. “

The trainer, born in Mannheim, has been serving in Magdeburg since February 2021- in the comparison period, 250 kilometers of Elbe the promotion competitor Hamburger SV has worn out four chief and two interim coaches. So continuity is one of the reasons why the small FCM, measured on the economic parameters, appears so impressively this year.

Important vocabulary

In addition, Titz embodies a trainer type, the football of which is so exceptional that you have to give your players time to internalize it. In a league, in the counter football, now dyeing with important vocabulary such as “counterpressing” or “switching game”, dominates, Titz teams want to build the ball. And the goalkeeper, in this case Dominik Reimann, is actually the first construction player. And if the ball is lost, the FCM wants it again immediately – high pressing is the means of choice.

At the position of the goalkeeper, it can also be demonstrated that Titz, who has always been a remarkable coach, has developed in recent years. In the less than eight months, which was granted to him as head coach at Hamburger SV in 2018, he had Julian Pollersbeck given the player opener until the middle circle. This went crooked, even for individual reasons.

Teach

At that time, some coaching colleagues also suggested that the colleague Titz was a technically excellent trainer, but he sticks too stubbornly to his enormously risky style of play. Today, the 54-year-old Mannheimer chooses a more pragmatic approach: the last series of defense is a few meters deeper, the goalkeeper anyway. »Christian Tititz’s style of play is now seen a little differently. We have drawn the teachings from the past and consolidated ourselves, «says sports director Otmar Schork, who has been at FCM since November 2020.

Nothing has changed in the great strengths of Titz football: Many of the 59 Magdeburg goals-13 more than the leaders 1. FC Köln has come about-are beautiful combinations. And even if the Magdeburg audience keeps nerves and good mood this season, in which only four home wins have been won, it is mainly due to the fact that it often got attractive football for 90 minutes. But that in turn does not change that in the history of the second division, a team was probably in third place at that time of the season, which takes a 15th place in the home table.

This Friday, the FCM can now take a big step towards the Bundesliga in the floodlight game against Prussia Münster. The chances are good for the Magdeburg home dilettants. Not only because it is against the penultimate. But because sports director Schork correctly gave the industry point of view at the fan evening: “We are on a really good way in terms of sport and have a high level that all of Germany is now looking at.”