“Are you a spy?” Jess Thorup asks and laughs. A journalist asked him if he was watching Bayern's Bundesliga recovery match against Bayern on Wednesday afternoon in Munich. Union Berlin had visited, was not in his place in the stadium when the only goal was scored shortly after the break. “That's right,” Thorup admits, “I was still in the lounge and saw the goal on the screen.”
Thorup, coach of the FC Augsburgis thinking about how to evaluate this match before he and his team play on Saturday (3:30 p.m. in FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) meets Bayern. He does not agree with the widespread opinion that the Munich game seems slow. “As a coach, I can see what they are doing: they were in control, they were just waiting for the first goal and then watching the next game.” He interprets the assurance that they can act in such a way that 1-0 is enough “Quality”.
Local series against the series champions.
FC Augsburg has successfully coped with this well-known quality of its big neighbor in its Bundesliga home games over the past two years. both under Markus Weinzierl (2021/22 season) and with Enrico Maaßen (2022/23) the Bavarians won. However, they were not happy with either coach.
The second marriage to Weinzierl (the first lasted from 2012 to 2016) failed after a year; The relationship with Maaßen lasted one season and seven days. Jess Thorup was then brought in, and even if he cannot continue the series at home against the series champions, that will not change the enthusiasm for him in Augsburg.
The 53-year-old stands out for his friendly attitude: he has introduced the Dane at the FCA and greets those present with a handshake when he enters a room. Above all, in his thirteenth season in the Bundesliga, he gave the Augsburg team the conviction that life does not always have to be burdened with worries about relegation. In an imaginary table of the Thorup acquisition, FCA occupies eighth place.
Firing Maaßen and bringing in Thorup was Marinko Jurendic's first major act of personal responsibility. The Swiss of Croatian roots began working as sports director at FC Augsburg on August 1, 2023, having previously worked successfully at FC Zurich. Because Augsburg Since the previous sporting director Stefan Reuter is now only an external consultant, the decision-making power fell to Jurendic. It did not make the separation from Maaßen easier: after the 2-1 home defeat against Darmstadt, Jurendic spent two days reflecting on the question of the coach; In his office it looked like an investigation in a crime scene detective's office.
Scraps of paper hung on the walls, collections of pros and cons and threads recorded networks of relationships between individuals. The new coach was expected to be André Breitenreiter, Jurendic's former teammate in Zurich, or Peter Zeidler of FC St. Gallen, another candidate from his previous background. But Jurendic was looking for someone who met his profile. He caught up with Jess Thorup, who had taken a creative break after being fired from FC Copenhagen despite participating in the Champions League. But Jurendic also had to meet Thorup first. He realized: That could work.
Thorup enchanted Augsburg a little without using any special magic. He quickly decided on a player base, an axis and a basic tactical order. “He talks to us a lot and gives us a clear plan,” says goalkeeper Finn Dahmen, who is also very impressed with Thorup, although the coach spoke to him. The coach introduced the term “clean sheet” into the FCA language, the game without conceding a goal. Dahmen, a new signing from Mainz, has not yet experienced anything in the Bundesliga.
It was very close two weeks ago, when Augsburg drew 0-0 against Leverkusen until injury time and unfortunately lost 1-0. But they showed how resilient the team has become by winning 2-1 from a 1-0 deficit in the next match in Mönchengladbach. “I have a feeling we're on the right track and a clean sheet is getting closer,” says Jess Thorup, “and if it happens this Saturday, at least we'll have a point.” And he smiles as he does with the Sentence of him with the spy.