Augsburg’s Rafał Gikiewicz has praised head coach Enrico Maaßen, and believes that the former Borussia Dortmund II coach is on a similar path to that of Julian Nagelsmann, now at Bayern Munich.
“After two or three weeks, we noticed that he was going in the direction of Julian Nagelsmann as a trainer,” Gikiewicz told Kicker. “Modern, a trainer without fear, with different and new perspectives. That doesn’t mean that Heiko Herrlich or Markus Weinzierl were bad. Bayern Munich come to us under Enno, but he still leaves of high, regardless of whether they face De Ligt, Neuer and Upamecano. I think this approach is better because it gives us more confidence.”
After 15 games, Augsburg are in 14th, and are just 10 points behind Borussia Dortmund, who are sixth. With wins against Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen this season, Die Fuggerstädter have proved a difficult team to beat for the bigger teams. Under Maaßen, Augsburg went on an unbeaten run of three wins and one draw across September and October.
Prior to accepting the role of Augsburg head coach, Maaßen had an offer to join then coach of Manchester United, Ralf Rangnick, and also received offers from Lokomotiv Moscow and Basel.
Augsburg’s Bundesliga season resumes on January 22 with a trip to the Westfalenstadion to face Borussia Dortmund before difficult games against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Freiburg.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
