Bundesliga
Wagner: "We want to hurt Bayern"
Sandro Wagner once famously dubbed himself as "Germany's best striker" while at Bayern Munich, and he has taken his habit of straight-talking into his new role as Augsburg head coach.
After a 3-1 victory over Freiburg on Matchday 1, Wagner's Augsburg side host Bayern on Matchday 2. We caught up with him in an exclusive interview for his thoughts on that match, and much more besides...
bundesliga.com: Sandro Wagner, it's been said that your arrival as coach was Augsburg's biggest summer transfer. How do you deal with that?
Wagner: “Well, I can hardly influence that. The best way I can do so is by giving almost no interviews. I only do the ones I have to do. That’s what I try to influence and then, when you ask me now, I can only say that the players play the game, they are the essence of football, and also the important protagonists.
"That’s why I feel a bit uncomfortable when I read or hear things like that. Honestly, I can’t really influence it much - unless you have a tip how to turn it around?"
Watch: Augsburg welcome Wagner
bundesliga.com: What kind of football do you want to implement?
Wagner: "What Augsburg should stand for is that we actively shape games. That we have an active attitude: how we go into training, how we go into a match, with a courageous mindset. We don’t want to hide, no matter the opponent, whether it’s the team in first place or at the bottom.
"We really want to push through our plan in all phases of the game. I would call it an active attitude. At the end of the day, the spectators here in Augsburg are the most important people who judge and evaluate us, and if they go home happy, then I think we'll have done some things right.“
Watch: Augsburg's Matchday 1 win in Freiburg
bundesliga.com: How would you like your first season to pan out?
Wagner: “I’ve thought about that, of course. You go into a new job with a certain mindset and you also start to imagine what would be cool, how things should look at the end.
"For me it’s quite clear: if my bosses are satisfied, if the spectators in Augsburg are satisfied - regardless of our position in the league table - then it will have been a good season. And if the bosses and the fans are happy, then we'll have done some things right and that will be reflected in the table.“
bundesliga.com: As a player you worked under many coaches, including Julian Nagelsmann and Jupp Heynckes. What did you learn from them?
Wagner: “They influenced me in a very positive way. I had so many coaches: Uli Stielike, Jogi Löw, Dirk Schuster, Peter Neururer… I could really go on. I took something from each of them. I’m very grateful for that journey and for the people I got to know. I think that really shapes you along the way.“
Watch: Wagner's top 5 Bundesliga goals
bundesliga.com: Was there someone in particuar who shaped you?
Wagner: “No. Everyone has their own style. Jupp Heynckes at Bayern Munich was very special because he was at a certain age, but even then he had an unbelievable energy. He managed to make everyone feel comfortable around him.
"It’s not just the players and the coach anymore - nowadays there are so many people around a football team. He was very appreciative towards everyone. That impressed me a lot."
bundesliga.com: Matchday 2 is fast approaching now and it's an eye-catching fixture for you against Bayern. Given that you're from the region and you previously played for Bayern, what does this game mean to you?
Wagner: “Well first of all, in every Bundesliga game there are so many tasks for a coach, the complexity of a game has become so big, so specific. So I don’t have the time to be triggered by anything with Bayern, or clubs in general; you always have to separate things.
"I spent my childhood at Bayern, over 10 years every day at Säbener Straße. Of course, that does something to you, it would be nonsense to deny it. But I don't have any connection to the people in charge there now. For me these are two different worlds. My childhood and affection on one side, and my daily work now. I can separate that completely. We want to hurt Bayern Munich as much as possible.“
bundesliga.com: You scored a beautiful goal in your penultimate game against Augsburg in a Bayern shirt...
Wagner: “Yes, I think on that matchday we won the Bundesliga title [on Matchday 29 in 2017/18]. I scored a goal, a wonderful moment as a player, but that doesn't help me at all for this game.“
Watch: Skip to 01:34 in the video below to see that Wagner goal against Augsburg
bundesliga.com: The fans are really looking forward to the game. What about you?
Wagner: “I’m not really looking forward to it in any special way. We want to treat every game individually. It would be strange if I said I look forward to a Bayern game more than a game against St. Pauli. I don’t.
"I look forward to every Bundesliga match as a coach, because I see it as a huge privilege that I’m doing this. That’s really how it is. For the people around it, for the media, it’s a cool topic. Maybe also for my family, because some of them are Bayern fans, but for me personally, no."
bundesliga.com: What are you most looking forward to in your first Bundesliga season as coach?
Wagner: “Many things. First of all, the interaction with my players, to see what we set out to do, how the implementation looks, and also how we react when things don’t go so well. I can’t be presumptuous and think that Augsburg will just sweep everything away every weekend.
"There will definitely be moments, maybe here and there, when there is friction, when it doesn’t go smoothly. To be honest, I'm actually looking forward to those moments too. I don’t only look forward to the nice moments but I also look forward to the moments where it gets a bit shaky, because I think we can take a lot from them and you get to know some characters even better. So yes, I'm looking look forward to many things.“
bundesliga.com: How important is developing young players to you?
Wagner: “Very important. A club like Augsburg invests a lot of money in youth development and training, and at some point that has to become visible. Right now, with Mert Kömür and Noahkai Banks, we have two boys who are already in the spotlight, who have shown that they can play at Bundesliga level.
"So for me it’s a duty to the club as an employee, but it’s also a passion of mine to work with young players. I love it because you can still develop so much, build so much, shape so much. But the basis for young players is always that they need lots of input, lots of work, and also the willingness to suffer a bit in certain aspects. That’s the foundation for our boys and I hope in the coming years Augsburg can bring many great players into the Bundesliga spotlight."
bundesliga.com: In the past, Augsburg have typically been a team who pick up points through sheer determination and fighting spirit. Do you aim to change that a bit?
Wagner: “Yes. Opponents don’t look forward to playing here in Augsburg, so it would be nice if we can keep that. Of course, we want to take the good things from the past with us, and build a few things on top. That’s really the goal. Whether we can achieve that remains to be seen, but that’s the goal.“