Defending champions Bayern Munich reached the Round of 16 in the DFB Pokal after defeating a stubborn Augsburg side 3:1 at the Allianz Arena. Bayern took the lead early on thanks to a sweet goal by Captain Philip Lahm and Julian Green’s header gave Bayern a 2:0 lead at half time.
Augsburg’s brave attitude awarded them with a penalty which Koo failed to convert but moments after, Augsburg scored with some Dong-Wong Ji bullet that even Neuer had no answer to. Thomas Muller once again missed the penalty but the record champions held on and found a goal right at the depth courtesy of David Alaba to secure a 3:1 victory.
As usual, Bayern were the side having possession right from the start. The 4-2-3-1 formation became more of a 4-1-2-3 in attacking phases. Joshua Kimmich joined in with Thiago in attacking midfield whilst Renato Sanches stayed deep, distributing the play, bridging the gap between the defence and the attack.
The full-backs, Lahm opted a really higher positioning, almost as a right wing and Bernat, stayed relatively deep with the initial wingers in Julian Green and Kingsley Coman moved into the middle to form a three-man attack.
The free flowing attacking formation of Carlo Ancelotti unsettled the slow Augsburg defence as Coman, Muller and Green began to interchange positions constantly to form a free flowing attacking formation.
Augsburg centre-backs Martin Hinteregger and Christoph Janker are not known for their speed and the Italian manager took full advantage of their lack of pace. The attacking movements of the fullbacks also caused Augsburg coach Dirk Schuster to play a six-man defensive chain in defensive phases. Wingers Philip Max and Georg Teigl joined in with the defenders to act as the fullbacks.
In the defensive phases, Augsburg pressed Bayern using a 5-4-1 formation. A five-man backline was complemented by banks of two in front. The defensive-minded midfielders Dominik Kohr and Daniel Baier formed the first wave while the more attack-minded Ja Chelo Koo and Georg Teigl formed the second with Dong-Wong Ji staying further upfront. This made the system more static for coach Dirk Schuster as he was opted to crowd the penalty area to prevent Bayern breaching their lines instead of stopping their flow from the back by pressing higher.
In hindsight, it was actually a very sensible move as the former Darmstadt boss knew his team pretty well and the fact that players like Ji and Koo will not be able to execute a high pressing game, thus he avoided taking the risk. BUT, the high rigidity of Augsburg in the final third meant a complete freedom for Bayern in their own half and in the middle third as well!
Indeed! Bayern attained a 77% of possession against Die Fuggerstadter. The congested middle forced Bayern to opt for long range efforts yet a load of possession. At times, they had like 95% passing accuracy in the entire game, such was their freedom in midfield. While Konstantinos Stafylidis did extremely well to keep Thomas Muller, who is yet to score a single goal in the Bundesliga this season, at bay as he managed to limit spaces available to Bayern on the flank and force out Muller to attain a more congested positioning.
Despite their decent gameplay, however, Augsburg were hard done by their lack of attacking efficiency. Having missed players like Finnbogason or Bobadilla, coach Dirk Schuster faced a massive task. Dong-Wong Ji, despite having a relatively good game was not enough and Augsburg’s route from defence to attack was too hard to gain them any attacking advantage.
Another reason for Augsburg’s dismissal is simple; Bayern’s potent attack force. Except for Julian Green’s header, the other two goals showed the pure quality of Bayern’s team, their work ethic, efficiency puts them a completely different level compared to the other teams.
The exciting part is, both the teams will also face each other in the Bundesliga this weekend, maybe this time out, coach Dirk Schuster can have a more potency to his strike force as they try to keep out Bayern once again.
