Cologne coach Baumgart on Hamann: "Absolute cheek"
Following Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart (51) has now also expressed his disgust with TV pundit Dietmar Hamann. In an interview with the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung", Baumgart said: "If Didi Hamann said two weeks ago that it was irresponsible of Union Berlin to stick with this coach, then I think that's absolutely cheeky. Why is he allowed to make such a judgment?" Baumgart said that not even he himself dared to assess the separation, although he has "more insight into Union Berlin" than many assume.
He could understand Tuchel's anger at experts such as Hamann or record international Lothar Matthäus. "I have the feeling that some critics are driving on a one-way street. We have to accept that some people who are really far removed from our work are constantly pissing down our throats," said Baumgart. "People who have their own problems but then stand up in public and say: we know what's going on. With every protagonist, with every club."
Before and after Munich's Bundesliga top match at Borussia Dortmund (4:0) on 4 November, Tuchel had spoken with biting irony about the Sky experts Matthäus and Hamann, who had previously criticized him. The Bayern coach broke off the interview after the game. "If a pundit's only job is to piss on everyone's leg at every opportunity, then he shouldn't be surprised if someone says: Watch out, you're just not important enough for me," said Baumgart.
He also asked for understanding for himself and his colleagues if they sometimes reacted thin-skinnedly to criticism. "The difference is that the coach has a responsibility and the pundit sits on a comfortable couch and the whole nation listens to him. But we coaches are not the nation's lightning rods." The same thing could happen to him as it did to Thomas Tuchel," said the FC coach.
In the heated world of Bundesliga football, 1st FC Cologne's coach Steffen Baumgart similarly took issue with media pundit Dietmar Hamann's comments about Union Berlin's coaching situation. Baumgart argued that Hamann's criticism was disrespectful, considering his distance from the team, and compared it to criticism from renowned figures like Lothar Matthäus.
Source: www.dpa.com
