Urs Fischer only feeds on past successes

Anyone who knows Urs Fischer knows that he doesn’t like being the center of attention. Against this background, the appearance at VfB Stuttgart was doubly unpleasant for the coach of 1. FC Union Berlin. After the elimination from the DFB Cup there, it was almost exclusively about him as a person and in several respects.

The final whistle from referee Sascha Stegemann had just gone when a Berlin delegation led by Fischer stormed up to the official to complain. It didn’t take long for Union’s coach to receive a red card. For the sake of completeness, it must be mentioned that the same thing happened to co-coach Michael Gspurning, but later the talk was exclusively about Fischer.

His appearance was not only seen as a loss of control, but also served as a symbol for the situation of the coach and the club. The 0-1 defeat at VfB was Union’s eleventh defeat in a row across all competitions, a shocking result by now. It goes without saying that Fischer was said to have frayed nerves after another bankruptcy.

The coach has rarely been seen as upset as he was shortly after the game in Stuttgart on Tuesday evening. Fischer complained vehemently to the referee, something that was not initially clear. It later turned out that after an interruption it was about a referee ball, which Stegemann awarded to VfB, which corresponded to the rules in this situation.

Fischer then apologized to Stegemann for his behavior. “You can believe me that I didn’t insult the referee. It’s not good, I’m really sorry too. “I have to have better control over it,” he said. According to Union’s coach, Stegemann explained the expulsion to him by saying that he had acted “too aggressively and forcefully”.

His team appeared less aggressive and bold, although not entirely weak. It was more like so many times in the past few weeks. Union didn’t disappoint across the board, rather a carelessness ruined the entire day’s work. Nobody cleared a rebound shortly before half-time, but instead the ball landed at Deniz Undav, who scored the only goal of the encounter. “A bad decision, a counterattack 30 seconds before the break, that decides the game,” said Fischer, sounding as if he still couldn’t believe it.

“It’s not the coach”

1. FC Union’s series of defeats is now truly unbelievable. Eleven games in a row would have cost pretty much every other coach in the Bundesliga their job. What keeps Fischer in office these days is not the present, but only the past and his achievement in leading the club from the second division to the Champions League within five years. But he won’t be able to live off it forever.

The players feel that things are now very critical of their coach. After the exit from the DFB Cup, captain Christopher Trimmel tried to verbally support Fischer. “It’s not the coach, it’s not an individual player. Urs Fischer is absolutely the right person,” he said. Sports director Oliver Ruhnert publicly expressed his confidence in Fischer after the defeat in Bremen (0-2), but also made it clear that this was not a permanent situation.

A comment from Daniel Theweleit, Cologne Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Sebastian Stier, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Daniel Theweleit Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2

Fischer himself spoke of continuing to feel support. “I think the club has made a clear statement about it. It’s not primarily about me personally, but about us. It’s about the club’s success. That we will try to get out of this situation together,” he said. This should still apply to the upcoming game on Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky). Another defeat could finally change the situation. Without an early victory, Urs Fischer can hardly be kept in office.