Absurd potpourri of blackouts
Disgraced Darmstadt residents destroy each other eloquently
March 3, 2024, 11:51 a.m
SV Darmstadt has to get more and more comfortable with the idea of being relegated from the Bundesliga. The “turnaround” game after an eternal winless series ends as a crashing debacle. The shocked people in charge do not skimp on merciless criticism.
Coach Torsten Lieberknecht was “shocked”, President Rüdiger Fritsch spoke of a “nightmare”, and for keeper Marcel Schuhen it was “a complete slap in the face”: After the festival of mistakes against FC Augsburg, Darmstadt 98 is in shock. Instead of landing a liberating blow, the bottom team received a “brutal” uppercut in the 0:6 (0:5) debacle – and is stumbling more than ever towards relegation from the Bundesliga.
The newcomer had “a lot planned” against FCA, emphasized Fritsch, “the famous goat that was supposed to be overturned. The famous turnaround.” The last victory was achieved in Augsburg at the beginning of October, and a repeat at Böllenfalltor was needed. That failed miserably. The Lilies had their 17th winless game in a row, while the guests celebrated the highest away success in their Bundesliga history. The reason: a “potpourri of absolute blackouts,” as Darmstadt’s president put it. Through individual mistakes “in all parts of the team,” as goalkeeper Schuhen noted.
“I’m also sorry for Darmstadt”
60 seconds had been played when Jannik Müller served his ex-teammate Phillip Tietz with a disastrous pass. Klaus Gjasula and Emir Karic joined in with fatal passes, and the rest of the defensive and offensive systems were also completely beside themselves. This is how Augsburg’s record hunt for double packer Ermedin Demirovic began. After 29 minutes it was 5-0, Tietz also set the final point with his second goal (84th). “I’m happy about our amazing game, but I’m also sorry for Darmstadt. That’s of course a big slap in the face,” said striker Tietz, commenting on the debacle for the Hessians.
During the one-sided game, Tietz didn’t waste any thought on his sporting past at the Böllenfalltor: “I never thought for a second about slowing down. That’s why I’m an athlete. After the game, I feel sorry for the Darmstadt team, but not during the game.” Until last summer, Tietz had played for the Lilies and scored 27 goals in 68 competitive games. This is also why he refrained from celebrating his goals.
“You can’t beat that”
“The level of blackouts, I would almost say the quality of the blackouts, cannot be surpassed,” said Fritsch and took refuge in gallows humor: “What happened in the first half, Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola could have stood there too – and Everything would have happened the same way.” The league’s worst defense caught the goals conceded 53 to 58. Nevertheless, the lilies summoned solidarity. Lieberknecht explained that he would “hold a protective hand over each individual player” and look for the mistakes within himself. Schuhen appealed: “Everyone has to come to terms with themselves in order to deliver a reasonable performance again next week.”
Everyone knows that it won’t get any easier. After all, the next opponents are RB Leipzig and FC Bayern, the first half of the season in Munich (0:8) continues to hurt. “Nobody is stupid, we can classify it correctly,” Fritsch spoke plainly. Nevertheless: giving up is out of the question, with 13 points from 23 games, the bottom of the table is “still there in terms of points”.