Looking Around the League: Union Berlin’s Urs Fischer Sacked

Heading into the international break, Borussia Dortmund’s grip on the top four has now slipped. Things are... going worse than we’d like. BVB now sit in fifth place, just two points behind RB Leipzig. who have done pretty well to keep picking up points as their new-look starting eleven finds it’s feet.

Just above Leipzig, Bayern Munich continue to be a very silly team. They are somehow both incredibly dominant and weirdly vulnerable. They showed this yet again at the weekend.

Here are the results from matchday 11:

Results

Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-0 Wolfsburg

Augsburg 1-1 Hoffenheim

Bayern Munich 4-2 Heidenheim

SV Darmstadt 0-0 Mainz

VfB Stuttgart 2-1 Borussia Dortmund

VfL Bochum 1-1 FC Köln

Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 Union Berlin

Werder Bremen 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt

RB Leipzig 3-1 Freiburg

League Table

Urs Fischer - A Victim of His Own Success Variance?

While this season’s Bundesliga darlings, VfB Stuttgart, were busy smacking Borussia Dortmund with disconcerting ease, last season’s lovable underdog, Union Berlin, were busy slipping to bottom of the table. Union suffered a 4-0 defeat to league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, even experiencing the indignity of conceding a goal to a former Southampton player, Nathan Tella.

This loss has now proven to be the final nail in Urs Fischer’s coffin, as Union have since announced that the club have parted ways with a manager that took them from 2. Bundesliga to the Champions League in his five years in charge.

Union Berlin’s last two seasons have been pretty fascinating, because they were significantly overperforming their xG last season and now significantly underperforming it this season. The biggest difference seems to be on the defensive end, where they were really tight last season, but have slipped significantly since. I am sure there are some genuine causal factors here, but I think a big part of this is just that variance has had it’s way with Union!

Your Thoughts?

What do you think caused Union Berlin’s struggles this season, and should they have stuck it out with Urs Fischer? Who should they bring in as his replacement?