The Daily Bee (September 28, 2020): David Wagner Sacked!

Good morning, Fear the Wall.

I’ve come to a pretty dark realization over the last week or so. With the NHL, NBA, and MLB winding down, there’s gonna be practically nothing to watch on weeknights in the United States. Basically, until the NHL starts in January, the NFL is gonna be the only mainstream sport on the air, and that will only air on Mondays and Thursdays. How should I distract myself while I sit around in quarantine in my apartment? Leave your thoughts below.

David Wagner Sacked

What has long been overdue has finally come. David Wagner, manager of BVB’s archrivals Schalke 04, has been relieved of his duties. Schalke have been dreadful for months, having gone winless in their last 18 Bundesliga matches. After losing 3-1 at home to Werder Bremen, Schalke announced their decision to sack Wagner as well as assistant coaches Christoph Bühler and Frank Fröhling.

While Wagner clearly isn’t the man to lead Schalke out of the mess they find themselves in, sacking him won’t solve anything. The club has been run poorly for years and is riddled with debt. It’s academy, which used to be one of the best in Europe, is a shadow of its former self. It will take years of prudent management, cost-cutting, and likely a new source of income for Schalke to turn the ship around and return to their former glory.

Match Day Two Results Recap

What a turbulent match day! Following BVB’s defeat at the hands of Augsburg on Saturday morning, the last thing I expected was for nearly every title contender to drop points as well. Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig, two clubs in the race for the top four, clashed at the BayArena and drew 1-1, with a goals from Emil Forsberg and Kerem Demirbay in the opening 20 minutes.

Borussia Mönchengladbach, another team challenging for the top four, also dropped points. They faced Union Berlin at home. While they got off to an early lead off a goal from Marcus Thurdam, Union struck back as they often do: off a corner kick. Ramy Bensebaini had a golden opportunity to score off an indirect free kick in stoppage time, but he shot what should have been a tap-in sky-high.

Of course, the result on everyone’s mind this morning is Hoffenheim’s stunning 4-1 victory over Bayern Munich. It was the Bavarians’ first defeat in 2020, and a resounding one at that. Andrej Kramaric, a regular thorn in the side of Borussia Dortmund, scored twice for Hoffenheim in front of 6,000 fans at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena. The prettiest goal of the match came when Benjamin Pavard inadvertently played a back pass to Mu’nas Dabbur, who took the ball and ran in on Neuer and chipped him.

Elsewhere, Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Hertha Berlin 3-1. Newly promoted VFB Stuttgart got their first win back in the Bundesliga against Mainz. Stuttgart held a 2-1 lead into the 77th minute, when following a red card from Mainz defender Moussa Niakhaté, they blew the game open en route to a 4-1 victory. Arminia Bielefeld also got their first win of the new campaign with a 1-0 win over fellow arrival FC Köln. Finally, Freiburg and Wolfsburg drew 1-1.

The Daily Buzz

See above. What will you do on weeknights once all the major sports leagues are over?