Bayern Munich continued where it left off in October by winning 2-0 against FC Augsburg in the Round of 16 of the DFB Pokal.
Some brief observations from the match.
- I'm sure Marwin Hitz's mother loves him but I'm struggling with it after his sure-fire red card challenge that took Arjen Robben from this match. The fact that it was only a yellow is quite upsetting.
- Furthermore, this was an incredibly dirty game from Augsburg who had 3 yellow cards handed out and committed 23 fouls on the night. I suppose if you can't beat 'em, you hack 'em? I do not want to see that become a strategy teams resort to.
- Arjen Robben is a sweet majestic angle of goal scoring and 15' was too short a time for his life in this game. Especially because this particular lineup just didn't play well without him. In some ways an early forced sub does that though.
- That was the most awkward looking pass/cross from Jerome Boateng following the Kroos corner and an equally awkward finish from Thomas Müller who, granted, had Mario Mandzukic's knee planted in his back.
- The Bayern Munich awkward defense train keeps rolling. There is a serious need to address any actual structure for this teams to play defense with. Defending form the front is a fantastic strategy but you're defense behind a five man press has to have some structure because relying on chucking bodies in front of shots on goal is going to catch up with you one day.
- Hojbjerg played 5 minutes. We need to see this kid some more because Toni Kroos looks more and more exhausted as each week passes. I don't know how long he can keep this up. The winterbreak is coming but it would be nice if we didn't pile drive him into the ground before then.
The DFB Pokal Quarterfinal round takes place the 2nd week of February. Let's hope the team enjoy's the respite from win or die games.