Magdeburg interim coach Sander: Laying on a hand is not enough

After six defeats in a row, interim coach Petrik Sander sees a great need for action at league bottom club 1. FC Magdeburg. "It will be a difficult task. But we are optimistic that we can turn things around. We won't be able to do it on our own, just by laying on a hand - no chance. We have to get several people on board, first and foremost the team," Sander told Sky TV.

He would "not turn everything upside down, it wasn't all bad either. But there are definitely things we need to do better. Conversely, that means defending better and having several solutions in mind to score goals," added the successor to Markus Fiedler, who was released on Sunday evening. Together with Pascal Ibold, coach of the U23s, Sander is preparing the second-division club for this Sunday's away game at Darmstadt (1.30pm/Sky).

0:6 defeat was the end for Fiedler

The 64-year-old Sander knows his way around East German soccer. In May 2006, he managed promotion back to the Bundesliga with Energie Cottbus and then kept them in the league with three match days to go. He was later head coach at FC Carl Zeiss Jena (2011 - 2013) before moving to Koblenz and taking charge of Budissa Bautzen in 2019. Born in Quedlinburg, he has been working with FCM's young talent since 2020, where he most recently achieved promotion to the Regionalliga Nordost with the U23s. Sander has had hearing damage to his right ear since 2005, after a firecracker shot outside the stadium exploded right next to him during a match in Aue.

Magdeburg parted ways with head coach Markus Fiedler last Sunday. Although sporting director Otmar Schork vehemently stuck by his newly appointed coach after the 4-0 defeat to Elversberg, it was clear that the coach and team were no longer a unit after the 6-0 loss in the test match against league rivals Eintracht Braunschweig, who were also struggling. "We have come to the conclusion that the team no longer has confidence in Markus and that there is no longer any hope of a turnaround," the sporting director then announced.