Match awards from Bayern Munich’s perplexing 3-1 victory over FC Augsburg

It is tough to even know what to say anymore. Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern Munich goes from painfully slow to bursts of pace so erratically that it is genuinely impossible to pin down what a ‘normal’ Tuchel game is meant to run like. Well, at least Bayern won.

Der Kaiser: Noussair Mazraoui

The defense today was... interesting. While the system functioned extremely well which contributed to Augsburg’s lack of threat, this was mostly down to the group as a whole — midfield pivot included. Individually, the back four’s performances can only be described as shaky. Kim Min-jae, Dayot Upamecano, and Alphonso Davies all looked sloppy on the ball and off it but Noussair Mazraoui stood out, as he was gracefully strong in defense and simply faultless in the offense. He did not make a single mistake on the ball the entire game.

Fußballgott: Leon Goretzka

Giving this award to Leon Goretzka might not have been expected, but he truly has been Bayern’s best midfielder this season so far. Kimmich was very good today, advancing far forward into zone 14 quite often and making some great penetrative passes but it all started with Goretzka as the base of midfield. While the midfield may function as a double pivot in the first phase of build-up, it’s clear that as soon as the ball progresses further, Kimmich is given license to go further forward while Goretzka comes in from deep, and we saw that Goretzka was not afraid to become a threat himself, with Augsburg’s lack of press in the middle resulting in Goretzka being able to unleash a couple of good shots from range.

Der Bomber: Harry Kane

In a game where the creators around him seemed to be impotent and even Harry Kane himself seemed static at times, the English striker still managed to pick his moments perfectly. While Kane could have completed a hat-trick had he buried a chance early in the second half, he was still magnificent, scoring his first with a confident penalty down the middle and his second in a fantastic break-away alongside Davies. Kane’s ability to find himself in pockets in the box is fantastic, but there are still gaps in the Bayern system which disallow him from being found by the wingers and midfielders, as the only real service Kane got was from the wing-backs.

Meister of the Match: Leroy Sané

Photo by Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Leroy Sané has the perfect skillset to have a meal as a central attacking midfielder, and lo and behold: a meal was had.

While Sané was ever so unlucky to not find himself on the scoresheet after his shot took multiple deflections on its way in for the first goal and the woodwork denied him after a fantastic move involving Mazraoui, Sané was consistently Bayern’s only real dynamic threat in the final third, with the other attackers often spurning chances or just not moving around. Sané did all this while tracking back the most of all the attackers both in build-up and to cover defensively, as well as leading the press. It was an all-star performance from the German, as he simply did everything and did everything excellently, just missing that final touch. Hope to see his role re-worked in some way to accommodate for Thomas Müller in the middle, which it very well could be with either of Mazraoui or Konrad Laimer offering a fantastic option for pure width.

Interested in a more in-depth review of the game? How did each player fare, and what is going on with Benjamin Pavard? We talk about all that and more in our newest podcast episode! Listen to it below or on Spotify.

As always, we appreciate all the support!