15-16 was an interesting and memorable year fro FC Augsburg.
In qualifying for Europe for the first time they managed at just the last group stage match to reach the knockout phase of the Europa League.
Considering the lack of resources for a club of Augsburg’s size doing this while avoiding relegation was a big accomplishment.
Sadly the outlook has not changed significantly. Markus Weinzierl has left for Schalke 04, along with the typical departure of key players that has plagued FCA. The pair of Alex Manninger and Ragnar Klavan to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and Tobias Werner to Stuttgart.
Each loss will be felt deeply. To fill in the losses new arrivals Andrewas Luthe from Bochum, Marvin Friedrich from Schalke and Gojko Kacar from HSV in addition to the new boss in the man behind Darmstadt’s survival Dirk Schuster. It will look much like a full house cleaning.
Although Schuster is well known as a coach who knows about getting a lot out of a little, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he will replicate the annual magic created by Weinzierl.
Weinzierl made year to year improvements, he made Europe, and he took the club further than anyone could have ever expected.
The over shadowing thing is that Schuster played a style that has become not so popular in Bundesliga play of late. While at Darmstadt they were a club that hit on the occasional counter and primarily via set pieces. Otherwise it was gruesome football to watch.
This seems to have been the best possible move that could have been made under the circumstances, but in all honesty 2016-17 could be a serious fight against the drop that clubs face when losing a long time manager.
Prediciton: 15 place and no higher as this is all on Schuster to replicate his magic
