David Wagner sacked after a poor start to Bundesliga season

For those that have been following the progress of Schalke football club closely in the last year or two, there has been heartache and disappointment with their overall performance both at the end of last season and the beginning of the current one.

In this article, we will be providing you with the latest information surrounding the sacking of David Wagner.

Avoiding relegation last season

Schalke had a very poor season last year finishing 12^th overall, the team where extremely close to the relegation zone last season and have been outperformed left right and centre by others in the league. But with many holding out hope that this is a short-term problem that will soon disappear, there have been a vast number of reports stating that bad luck is here to stay. With a current position of 18^th place in the table with a loss of both games played so far in the new season, it is not looking positive for the Schalke team as they are now playing catchup from the back foot.

18 Games without a win for Schalke

At the time of writing the Schalke squad have gone a total of 18 games without a win making them one of the poorest performing clubs in the league at this time. Despite having some amazing players on the squad, there is something fundamentally wrong with the way that they are playing with one another. Whether it is the formation that they are playing or the chemistry that the players have with one another, there is something that needs to be fixed in order to improve the squad and beat the losing streak once and for all. As the belief in the club has slowly begun to dwindle down to nothing, those betting on Germany´s Bundesliga have placed their bets on other clubs such as the last years league winner Bayern.

Relieved of duties effective immediately

Upon losing their 18^th game, the higherups at Schalke had concluded. David Wagner has to go. With manager being relieved of his duties with immediate effect, the decision came with a mixed response from the fans. Though somewhere happy to see the back of Wagner and a beginning under new management, there were many wondering who would step up to take over the club this early into a new season? In addition to the departure of David Wagner, his assistants Christopher Buhler and Frank Frohling are also leaving the club to bring forward a completely fresh start for the team moving forward.

When asked about their departure from the club, sports director Jochen Schneider had this to say:

“We had all hoped that we could improve on the pitch together with David Wagner, unfortunately, we haven’t seen the right performances and results from the first two games for this to happen.”

This is a huge blow to the already poor performing team leaving the rest of the season completely up in the air as the club begins the search for new management.

The major success of best friend Klopp

The sacking of David Wagner from the Bundesliga side could not have come at the worst time for the friendship between Wagner and Jürgen Klopp. Klopp has seen a huge amount of success in the English Premier league-leading Liverpool to their first Premier League win in 30 years. It is this win and the success he is seeing at the club at this time that makes him perhaps one of the best and most respected managers in the sport. This of course is quite the contrast to Wagner that is currently unemployed from the world of football.

Who could replace David Wagner as new coach?

With Wagner having lost his job the question remains as to who will be taking over the club for the remainder of the season? At the time of writing, it was announced that Manuel Baum will replace Wagner at the position of head coach at this time. This is a promising sign for a team that has been struggling in the opening games of the league. With the ability to provide a new lease of life into the team as well as new formations and strategies, this is a great start for a team that needs all the help that they can get at this stage in the game.

With this in mind, there is plenty of promising things to come from the switch-up in management that could see Schalke move further up the table with the best teams in the league. How do you think they will do with the new form of management? What´s your best bet?