It’s not that he didn’t point out that his team’s crisis has more to do with the results than with the performances shown, with the exception of Dortmund and the 1-6 there. Steffen Baumgart deliberately chose these words after the win in Augsburg: “We did well. Just like in the last few games.”
Eric Martel made it 2-0 in the win against Augsburg.
IMAGO/Beautiful Sports
Baumgart sees himself and his team of trainers primarily as developers. He knows that – apart from a few exceptions like Jonas Hector or Ellyes Skhiri – there will always be fluctuations in performance in his squad, which sometimes affect a single player, sometimes the entire group. That leads to results that disappoint fans and observers, but are actually inevitable.
Eric Martel is a player who definitely needs further development. Just 20 years old, in the Bundesliga since this season, he has already played 23 games. Not always as strong as in Augsburg, but he’s showing more and more that he’s on the way to becoming a full-fledged Bundesliga player – setbacks included. At FCA the curve went up steeply. His first goal was a reward for a committed performance, and this goal should not have been any different: “When Eric’s goal you can see that there was pure will, that we were awake and wanted to score goals,” said experienced Florian Kainz in praise of the assertive one Colleagues who have long been firmly anchored alongside Skhiri (who has already scored his sixth goal of the season) on the double six and should slip into his role in the medium term.
After the 3-1 win, which he laid the foundation for with the goal to make it 2-0, Martel was delighted: “After my first goal I can’t stop grinning. If you haven’t won six games, a win like that tastes good All the better. That was just immensely important.”
Baumgart: “We still need a lot of points”
Martel described the “pure will” that Kainz recognized as follows: “I saw in front of my goal that there was no longer a defender and then just sprinted. Then I took aim and fortunately the ball went through my legs .”
In the long run, only the fittest have luck in Cologne, Martel is well on the way there. Which also applies to Kingsley Schindler. Although he is almost a decade older than his colleague, he is currently stronger than ever. Whether attacking on the right or defensive (as in Augsburg after the change of sides) – Schindler is committed, acts in a very disciplined manner and may be creating the basis for a future in Cologne, even regardless of the transfer ban. All in all, 2023 is going well for “King”, who recently became a father and is also a Ghana international.
For the Cologne team it is now a question of defending twelfth place, the gap to 16th place has increased to nine points. “But we still need a lot of points,” predicts Steffen Baumgart, for whom there is no rest. There should be at least nine points from the remaining seven games, the target of 40 points was set from the start. After Augsburg you have it a little closer in mind.
