Five observations from Bayern Munich's 3-1 win over Augsburg

1. Robert Lewandowski has been an absolute stud in the Rückrunde

A few weeks back I started writing a piece trying to argue that Lewandowski hasn't been as good as we think this season. Shame on me, right? He's scored 9 of Bayern's 11 goals since the end of the winter break, putting chances away at an incredible rate.

His early goal today was absolutely sublime, as his first touch and subsequent spin gave him just enough space to fire a low shot past Augsburg keeper Marwin Hitz. His second was just as nice, as he was played in beautifully by Thiago before calmly slotting it past Hitz. Lewandowski is going to need to keep converting at an elite clip to give Bayern a chance against an in-form Juventus side.

2. Bayerns defensive line wasn't as high up the pitch as it usually is

While most likely a result of the make-shift back line, it was good to see Pep Guardiola move away from the high line for a change. It seemed to work quite well, as Augsburg chances were quite limited throughout the match. Having someone with the defensive capabilities of Arturo Vidal in front of the back four certainly helped as well. Yes, they scored a goal late, but that was a result of a beautifully placed shot rather than a glaring mistake from the defense. All in all, they played about as well as one could have hoped today.

3. Thomas Muller gets back on the score sheet

After being held without an assist or a goal in his last three matches, Müller got back into the swing of things with one of each today. He played some beautiful passes and created some wonderful chances, something he'll need to keep doing for Bayern to have a good second half of the season, especially since they'll most likely need to start scoring more goals to get their wins than before.

4. Arjen Robben's play

Arjen Robben is without a doubt one of the top players in Europe, but if Bayern want to have a chance to win three trophies this year, Robben needs to be a little less selfish. Today it seemed like every time he had the ball on the right flank, he cut inside and looked for his own shot first, rather than surveying the field and maybe setting up others in better positions. His shooting can be downright filthy at times, but those shots from outside the box just don't go in enough to justify doing it almost every time.

5. A slow game

Other than the goals, today's game was rather uneventful and slow. Bayern had a lot of possession in the middle of the pitch, and there seemed to be a lot more back passes to Manuel Neuer than usual. In a game where clear chances were limited/more rare than usual, it was important for the attackers to be clinical in front of goal. Fortunately, they put away the chances they had. While it wasn't the most convincing performance, maybe this scrappy win gets them going a bit before their champions league clash in 9 days.

Other observations/thoughts:

• Poor Arturo Vidal just can't make it through a game without picking up a knock. Today it was his head and his ankle. His substitution seemed to, once again, only be a precaution, and hopefully he'll be ready to go against his former club on the 23rd.
• David Alaba lost a tooth! Poor guy.
• Guardiola looked like he was much more engaged and happy after goals than he had been in the previous few games.
• I, for one, am really, really glad Franck Ribery didn't come on as a late substitute. Getting another solid week of training before making his return will benefit him in the long run and hopeefully decrease the odds of him picking up another annoying injury.