As far as I remember, no Union Berlin players were released last summer and their squad was still intact like the previous season and if anyone left it was a player who was not included in Urs Fischer's plans. Key players such as Sheraldo Becker and Kevin Behrens are still at Union Berlin and both were top scorers last season for Union Berlin. But not only that, Union Berlin also brought in quite good players such as Robin Gosens from Inter and David Datro Fofana from Chelsea. Of course, Urs Fischer brought in this player to strengthen his attack line and midfield, but it hasn't been successful enough until now. Union Berlin still has a long way to go in the Bundesliga and they can actually still enter the top 10 if they show the same performance as last season.
The problem are the new players. Union Berlin had previously brought in unknown players. Or well-known players who have not been in the A-Team at the respective club for a long time. They have slowly integrated these players into the team and built them up. With the purchase of Gosens and Fofana, they have broken with this philosophy. They were allowed to play straight away and the players who had always played last season sat suddenly on the bench. That brought turbulence into the entire team. If there is then a lack of success, the first cracks appear in a team-unit that has not grown together.
But now we will see a new coach who will be able to deal with that.
It's difficult to talk about Union Berlin at the moment because they're a very different club than they were before and indeed apart from their busy schedule this season I also agree with what you're saying because Union this season seem to be breaking the philosophy they've built since the beginning which is precisely the change that makes them even worse.
Not only in domestic competitions now but also competitions as big as the Champions League they are like a complement now. Honestly I expected the same Union as last season but now it seems like expecting that with the condition of the Union like this will be very difficult to happen.