What kind of football does he stand for? Who has inspired him? Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart’s insights – also into his “simple language”.
With Steffen Baumgart’s offensive style, 1. FC Köln is one of the positive phenomena of the Bundesliga first half. Yet the coach still sees football as a combat sport.
“I was laughed at in Paderborn when I started there and talked about football as a ‘martial art’. But I am still of that opinion. It’s about mentality, willingness to run, team spirit. I think it’s at most five percent of all teams that play football,” he says. “Even teams that think they play well, at some point they just knock the ball forward or concentrate on transition play. “
“Counter-pressing used to mean ‘going for it’ – it doesn’t mean anything else “
At FC, that should be the exception under Baumgart. He believes that “every footballer prefers to play like that” and is convinced that “in the long run, you get something out of playing forward. We also see that with the absolute top teams. They think offensively 80 per cent of the time. “
Who inspired him as a coach? Jürgen Klopp, perhaps? “No.” Or RB football? “Definitely not.” No, says Baumgart, “there is no particular inspiration for me. I find that difficult, too. I’ve always liked to play offensively. “In Paderborn, “the final conviction” was provided by the then sporting director Markus Krösche, “who was even more consistent than I in showing how we wanted to play football. At some point, that was also completely mine.”
Baumgart explains his idea to his players the way he “wants it explained” – in “clear and simple language”. After all, football is simple, too. “In the past, counter-pressing was called ‘going for it’. It means nothing else. And overloading the wings just meant ‘creating superior numbers on the wing’. I think everyone understands my language.”
