Bayern Munich 2-0 Augsburg: Initial reactions and observations

Initial reactions and observations

• Bayern upped the intensity in the second half and managed to unlock Augsburg’s steely defence through a sublime long ball from Jerome Boateng finished off cooly by Thomas Muller.
• Augsburg almost gave the home crowd a big scare by a late equaliser that was ruled offside before Leon Goretzka scored the second giving Bayern some room to breath.
• Not the best of days for Bayern but one where they managed to get the job done and wrestle all three points from Augsburg to increase their lead in the Bundesliga by four points over second placed Dortmund.

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FULLTIME — The referee blows the final whistle to end the game at 2-0 for Bayern!

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90’ — GOAL! Leon Goretzka passes the ball into the net to increase the lead and put Bayern 2-0 up!

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84’ — Double Substitution! Lucas Hernandez and Javi Martinez come on for Thiago and Coutinho

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70’ — Substitution! Leon Goretzka comes on for Joshua Zirkzee who’s had a dull day!

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53’ — GOAL! Muller opens the scoring for Bayern!

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SECOND-HALF — The ball is set rolling for the second half as both teams look to open the scoring!

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HALFTIME Observations:

• Augsburg’s tight defense combined with their grit to allow no chances has worked well so far in keeping the home side quiet
• Bayern fail to create any good chance until the last minute as Lewandowski’s link up play is being missed against a cagey opposition.

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HALF-TIME — The scores are level at 0-0 as both sides fail to score!

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KICKOFF — We are underway!

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One hour until kickoff: Lineups are out! Hansi Flick gives us what we asked for!

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Matchday! Sunday matchdays are always weird, because it throws off one’s footballing circadian rhythm, but no matter! This week, Bayern Munich take on FC Augsburg in the only Bavarian derby of any relevance. Given that Nurnberg are locked in a relegation battle in the 2.Liga and 1860 Munich aren’t even as good as Bayern II, that’s likely to remain the case for some time.

The big news is that Robert Lewandowski won’t play. In game #1 without the Polish hitman (vs. Hoffenheim), Bayern played free-flowing football and scored lots of goals. In game #2 (vs. Schalke in the Pokal), they slogged it for 90 minutes and only Joshua Kimmich scored from a set-piece situation.

What was the main difference between these two games? Well, against Hoffenheim, Bayern basically fielded a standard XI with Joshua Zirkzee substituting in for the injured Lewandowski. The precocious Dutchman handled the role well and allowed Thomas Muller and the rest of the attack to wreak havoc around him. Against Schalke, Hansi Flick elected to drop the lad and started a substandard lineup with Muller as the striker, causing problems not only for him, but Philippe Coutinho and Serge Gnabry as well.

So, for this game, Bayern should return to the normal XI, and start the same lineup that took to the field against Hoffenheim. Without Kingsley Coman (hamstring) and Lewy (knee), it’s not a real “champagne” XI, but with Jerome Boateng returning to the lineup it’s quite close. With David Alaba, Alphonso Davies, and Thiago Alcantara also in form, the team is currently loaded with quality. Hopefully, Flick and his boys put up a good performance, because Borussia Dortmund are in form and looking to really challenge for the title this season.

It’s Bayern time.

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Match Info

Location: Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany

Time: 3:30 pm local time, 10:30 am EST

TV/streaming: Fubo.tv, Find Your Country

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