Can you expect nothing and still be disappointed in the end? That’s the question I asked myself yesterday after Union deservedly lost 4-0 against Leverkusen. It’s hard for me to write this, but the defeat could have been twice as big and no one should have complained about it. Boniface alone had an incredible number of chances. Union is now in 18th place. And that is perhaps the only good thing about this lost game. The team can’t slip any further in the table and this position perhaps makes it clear to even the last person: Our goal for the season is solely to stay in the league and we now have 23 match days left in the relegation battle. At the bottom: Union is in 18th place, screenshot: Kicker.de
Union doesn’t have to be relegated
Union’s journey from the second matchday, after which the team was in first place, to the defeat against Leverkusen and 18th place is in a certain way absurd. And I can understand when fans say that they’ll just watch Union’s second division again. Because they go to Union: Wherever you play, we follow you… I can understand that. But I don’t share this view. I think this devotion to fate is wrong. After all, it wasn’t just luck that Union was so successful in recent seasons. It was hard work. From the team. From the staff. From all employees of 1. FC Union Berlin. This isn’t about correcting a 4-year-long footballing mistake and Urs Fischer’s team obviously has another choice than to accept relegation. Or to put it another way: This process can still be intervened.
18th place as a chance to be honest
When you find yourself in a crisis, it helps to remember where you are. The men’s team of 1. FC Union Berlin is in 18th place in the Bundesliga. This is the last place. Anyone standing there gets off straight away. Whoever is there bears the title of the worst sporting team of the season. That’s the truth. What also helps when dealing with a crisis is that you yourself are responsible for being in this crisis. No referee, no constant shots on Sundays and not even the press are to blame for the team being in 18th place. It’s the team itself. And you have to admit that you’re rightly in 18th place. After 9 defeats in a row in the Bundesliga, there are no excuses. No injury misery, no squad completed too late, no incomplete preparation for the season, no unnecessary suspensions, no lack of luck in the game. And certainly no one should point out that the squad is much better than 18th place. Haven’t we left behind a number of teams whose squads were so much better in recent seasons? No, Union is in last place, self-inflicted and rightly so. This is important. As well as the conclusion that our goal for the season is not simply to stay in the league, because that’s how it’s always done. We now have the goal of staying in the league for the season because it is extremely serious. Union must accept this relegation battle. And by Union I don’t just mean the team. But I mean all of us. Staying in the league with all your might. We haven’t called that in a long time. It’s time for it.
Analysis of the defeat against Leverkusen
Urs Fischer’s team no longer scores goals in the Bundesliga and at the same time can no longer defend. I could break it down to this formula. But this is not an analysis, but a description of the situation. A bit further That’s why Till Oppermann is brought in for RBB, which describes what didn’t work in the first half: on the one hand, Union couldn’t withstand the constant pressure from Leverkusen and on the other hand, it didn’t work to break out of the defense. And long balls couldn’t be tied down, so they came back straight away. One can certainly accuse Urs Fischer, as Oppermann does, of not having reacted to this situation by substituting Kevin Behrens at half-time at the latest. On the other hand, one cannot absolve the team of being downright negligent when conceding goals. Of course, it’s easy to get upset about conceding two goals from corners and one from a counterattack. And of course that’s why I throw my arms up and ask myself what that’s about. Especially this counterattack that made it 0-4 after our own free kick. I really can’t think of much… But in my opinion it’s too easy to focus on that. Because Leverkusen had an awful lot of chances that they didn’t take advantage of. Union allowed too much overall, not just at the corners. I can’t deny the team’s desire, but I also saw how they mainly ran after things and didn’t really get into duels. That brings me to my opening question from above: Can you expect nothing and still be disappointed in the end? And I have to answer that with yes, as painful as it is for me. Because I didn’t expect that Union Leverkusen would be able to inflict their first defeat. Even for a draw, a lot would have had to come together. But the way Union let Leverkusen play disappointed me. There was nothing left to see of the fight like against Naples. It’s hard to believe that this was almost the identical team.
These are the reports from the Berlin media about the game:
Screenshot: @rudelbildung on Bluesky
Review of the game in Naples
As well as Tactic&Suff as well as us from Textile offenses had each published a podcast episode about the draw in Naples. But the best episode in my opinion came from the Old Podcasterei. Of course, as always, shortly before kick-off of the next game, as is already a beloved tradition for the three boys. Oli and Benni then describe very impressively how they were taken to and from the stadium on the shuttle buses. Above all, the different ways in which fans had to relieve themselves on these trips takes away any romanticism about away drivers. I also found the descriptions of the firecrackers thrown to be impressive. It would be too easy to conclude that you shouldn’t go out. But away trips under these circumstances are unreasonable. And the Bundesliga added its own chapter this weekend with the treatment of Cologne fans upon entry into Bochum (Geiss blog on this).
Unions Women: Top game becomes a goal festival
It’s going to be exciting, I thought before the game between Ailien Poese’s team and Türkiyemspor, who had been in third place in the Regionalliga Northeast until then. But the Unioners were already leading 7-0 at the break. In the end it was 11:2 (Match report). Just to illustrate this extraordinary result on matchday 10: half of all goals conceded by Türkiyemspor this season came from the game against Union. And on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. both teams will play against each other again in the Berlin Cup. However, the game will not take place on Dörpfeldstrasse, but in the Käthe Tucholla Stadium on Bruno-Bürgel-Weg. Union is currently 9 points ahead of Viktoria. But that is also because their guest appearance in Erfurt was canceled due to personnel problems for the home team. A catch-up date is still pending (RBB).
A new Union history book
Matze Koch has done it again: With “From Köpenick to Europe” he has published a new book on the history of 1. FC Union Berlin. Almost exactly ten years after his standard work “Always further, all the way forward” (no longer available). A lot has happened since then. What exactly you all know very well: Bundesliga promotion, European Cup, European Cup, European Cup. The relegation battle only began after the editorial deadline. The cover of the book “From Köpenick to Europe” by Matthias Koch I have already leafed through the 1.5 kilogram book (I put it on our kitchen scales) and the first impression I can say is that it is a little different from them previous Union history books. It has a larger format so that images can be seen better. The content is also divided up in such a way that you can read here and there as you browse through it, rather than having to work your way through from front to back. This is probably what we call snackable content today. And that’s not meant in a negative way, because the content was, as usual, carefully researched by Matze Koch and critically reviewed by club chronicler Gerald Karpa.
If you hurry, you might get a ticket for them Book launch on Thursday at the Union Cinema in Friedrichshagen. But there are other dates. And yes, we want to get Matze back on the podcast. November 16th 2023, 6 p.m. in the “Union” cinema (Bölschestr. 69, 12587 Berlin)
Tickets: www.kino-union.de
01.12. 2023, 7 p.m. in “Tusches Kick & Rush” (Am Generalshof 3 – 5, 12555 Berlin)
Tickets: In “Tusches Kick & Rush” or via telephone: (030-88729900 or 0157-75762774) 08.12. 2023, 7:30 p.m. in the Theater Ost, (Moriz-Seeler-Straße 1, 12489 Berlin)
Tickets: www.theater-ost.de
On your own behalf
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2023-11-13 12:40:02
#Urs #Fischers #team #falls #18th #place #selfinflicted #rightly
