Three things that stood out at FC Augsburg against FC Bayern Munich: FCB ready for the dirty work

Aleksandar Pavlovic with his first Bundesliga goal (23rd) and Alphonso Davies (45th + 5) had put Bayern, who were severely weakened by their substitutes, in the lead. After the break, Harry Kane (58th) countered Augsburg’s goal from Ermedin Demirovic (52nd), who also made the final score with a penalty kick (90th + 4). Previously, Sven Michel had failed with a penalty to Manuel Neuer (88th).

On the way to the three points, the record champions proved that they can do dirty work – and can probably continue to rely on their own talent in the future.

Three things that stood out to us during FC Bayern Munich’s 3-2 win at FC Augsburg.

Leon Goretzka was really up to speed at the microphone on “Sky” after the final whistle. “What we are standing on here cannot be called a meadow.” The midfielder said the term field would be more appropriate. That’s why we saw unattractive football and a technically appealing game wasn’t possible here.

Since FCA attacked significantly higher than Werder Bremen or Union Berlin recently, things went easier for Bayern offensively. They had more space available, which they sometimes used for good attacks, but not nearly as effectively as in phases when things are really going well.

Defensively, there were always gaps in the completely newly formed back four (Davies, de Ligt, Dier, Guerreiro). Especially at the beginning, Augsburg kept finding space between Guerreiro and de Ligt with their long balls. And in the second half, Bayern never got control of the game despite having the lead. Augsburg played their game much better, but Bayern held on and defended themselves against Augsburg’s physical play whenever possible. In addition, Bayern missed their chances on the counterattack to decide the game early on.

“We made it a bit difficult for ourselves,” summed up Thomas Tuchel on “Sky”. “We had a lot of opportunities to counterattack, but we didn’t win the game 4-1. Sometimes that was bad luck, sometimes we weren’t precise, sometimes it was the pitch.”

Overall, the coach was satisfied with his team’s performance under these difficult conditions. “It’s super difficult to win here. That’s because of the conditions and the way they play,” said Tuchel about FCA. “You have to accept a lot of duels, accept invisible dirty work and do it. That’s what we did – with a back four that had never trained together like that before. That’s why it was good from everyone.”

Tuchel’s options were limited on this matchday. Due to the full hospital, which also increased in Augsburg due to Kingsley Coman’s injury, the coach decided on the double six of Leon Goretzka and Pavlovic on Friday.

The 19-year-old Pavlovic is the in-house stopgap solution to the Holding Six issue raised by Tuchel before the season. The Munich home-grown team was already convincing with its performances in the first half of the season (including against Dortmund and Stuttgart).

His place in Augsburg was secured because Joshua Kimmich was out indefinitely with a shoulder injury, Konrad Laimer had calf problems and Guerreiro was in demand as a substitute right-back.

And Pavlovic took his chance – again. In the first half he structured Bayern’s game in the center. He showed his understanding of the game, moved in the right spaces, directed the game with gestures, was confident in the passing game and repeatedly solved tight situations with his technical class and calmness on the ball.

The second half in particular showed that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the defensive movement. There were one or two scenes in which he couldn’t close the room in time or was too late in a duel.

After his good performances in December, Tuchel revealed that he is very popular with his coach: “He does everything with humility and a huge smile on his face. The rest comes naturally. Quality always prevails.”

Due to the injury problem, he will get enough games in the next few weeks to prove his quality in the long term and possibly really assert himself in the end – as long as he is not out longer himself. In the final phase he had to be replaced with an injury.

Before the game, Bayern coach Tuchel spoke of an “emotional stadium”, knowing that a difficult away task awaits his team. And in the initial phase there were two reasons for positive emotions about the FCA appendix.

First they were happy about a hand penalty, then about a goal from Elvis Rexhbecaj (5th). But both times the VAR intervention put a damper on the Swabian elation. And both times Augsburg were only a few centimeters short.

Although one could still have discussed whether Matthijs de Ligt’s handball was punishable, the ball hit the Dutchman’s arm a few centimeters outside the penalty area. So: No penalty.

Seven minutes later, with the supposed lead, the assistant’s flag went up alongside the arms of the Bayern defense. And this decision stood even after review by the VAR. Bitter for the FCA: It was even tighter than before with the handball scene.

And Augsburg also had a bit of bad luck at the third crucial moment before the break. When Pavlovic scored Bayern’s opening goal, it was not Leon Goretzka who headed the ball, but Augsburg’s Kristijan Jakic, so that Pavlovic’s offside position was irrelevant.

Things didn’t get any better after the break. When Bayern scored Harry Kane’s third goal, the Englishman was closer to the goal than the second-to-last FCA defender, but again the ball didn’t come from a Bayern player, but again from Jakic.

A lot went for the hosts in the last two home games against Bayern, which FCA won in each case. This time they didn’t have that luck on their side.