FC Bayern lost arguably their most influential player to a collar bone injury for six weeks when playing Napoli in the Champions League.
Jupp Heynckes is incredibly confident that Bayern will be able to overcome the loss of their midfield general. They have coped admirably without Arjen Robben. However, while Robben did win many a match for Bayern, he is a game changer and a game winner, not Bayern’s heart and soul.
Heynckes bravely went with David Alaba and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk against Augsburg in defensive midfield. Alaba had a few problems in the role. It was Tymoshchuk’s job to provide inspiration to the youngster. Instead the midfielder had little influence in the game and mistimed so many of his tackles that he was sent off in injury time for a particularly bad one.
Bayern started off well enough. They seemed to lack a bit of creativity but still went into a two-goal lead via Mario Gomez and Franck Ribery. At the end of the first-half it seemed that talks of Bayern going downhill because of the loss of Schweinsteiger were premature. Almost everyone expected them to put a few more past Augsburg.
Instead, Augsburg came out fighting after the break and eventually got a well deserved equalizer after Bayern made a mess of clearing the ball following a corner. Had it not been for Manuel Neuer, they would have come away with a point. Several factors can be attributed to the performance in the second half.
Bayern might have been tired following the gruelling Champions League match against Napoli on Wednesday. Of the eleven players starting, eight of them had played most of the match while Tymoshchuk had played about forty minutes after Bastian’s injury.
Only David Alaba and Rafinha were fresh. Rafinha made uncharacteristic errors while Holger Badstuber seemed slightly out of sorts. Mario Gomez’s touch was generally poor while Ribery faded out of the game. Bayern could have done with Jerome Boateng on the pitch- unfortunately, he was suspended. Had Gustavo started, Bayern might have had fewer problems as he is a better-tackler and generally a better passer than Tymoshchuk.
So, overall, Bayern’s poor performance can also be contributed to Bayern’s starters performing poorly due to weariness. Heynckes does not like to change a winning side. After that second half performance, he might consider pairing the visionary Kroos and Gustavo next to each other. Kroos has played with the German national side in that position and has earned plenty of praise. When Arjen Robben eventually returns, Heynckes might be forced to push Kroos into defensive midfield.
Kroos’ wayward shooting was one of the reasons why Bayern couldn’t relax earlier. Had he taken his chances, Bayern would have regained their two-goal lead. He was known for his shooting abilities in Leverkusen. He has shown that he can shoot with Bayern in the Champions League. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about him in the Bundesliga.
Bayern has five tough matches coming up. The first one is a game against Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena. After that, Villarreal will come to town. Mainz away, Bremen at home and Manchester City at the Etihad are the other three fixtures. After these five matches, there are two more tough ones against Stuttgart and Köln.
Bayern’s performance against Dortmund will be the true indicator of how well they can do without Schweinsteiger. It is not time to worry yet as, after all, the indicator of a champion side is one that can win even when things aren’t going their way.
Heynckes bravely went with David Alaba and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk against Augsburg in defensive midfield. Alaba had a few problems in the role. It was Tymoshchuk’s job to provide inspiration to the youngster. Instead the midfielder had little influence in the game and mistimed so many of his tackles that he was sent off in injury time for a particularly bad one.
Bayern started off well enough. They seemed to lack a bit of creativity but still went into a two-goal lead via Mario Gomez and Franck Ribery. At the end of the first-half it seemed that talks of Bayern going downhill because of the loss of Schweinsteiger were premature. Almost everyone expected them to put a few more past Augsburg.
Instead, Augsburg came out fighting after the break and eventually got a well deserved equalizer after Bayern made a mess of clearing the ball following a corner. Had it not been for Manuel Neuer, they would have come away with a point. Several factors can be attributed to the performance in the second half.
Bayern might have been tired following the gruelling Champions League match against Napoli on Wednesday. Of the eleven players starting, eight of them had played most of the match while Tymoshchuk had played about forty minutes after Bastian’s injury.
Only David Alaba and Rafinha were fresh. Rafinha made uncharacteristic errors while Holger Badstuber seemed slightly out of sorts. Mario Gomez’s touch was generally poor while Ribery faded out of the game. Bayern could have done with Jerome Boateng on the pitch- unfortunately, he was suspended. Had Gustavo started, Bayern might have had fewer problems as he is a better-tackler and generally a better passer than Tymoshchuk.
So, overall, Bayern’s poor performance can also be contributed to Bayern’s starters performing poorly due to weariness. Heynckes does not like to change a winning side. After that second half performance, he might consider pairing the visionary Kroos and Gustavo next to each other. Kroos has played with the German national side in that position and has earned plenty of praise. When Arjen Robben eventually returns, Heynckes might be forced to push Kroos into defensive midfield.
Kroos’ wayward shooting was one of the reasons why Bayern couldn’t relax earlier. Had he taken his chances, Bayern would have regained their two-goal lead. He was known for his shooting abilities in Leverkusen. He has shown that he can shoot with Bayern in the Champions League. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about him in the Bundesliga.
Bayern has five tough matches coming up. The first one is a game against Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena. After that, Villarreal will come to town. Mainz away, Bremen at home and Manchester City at the Etihad are the other three fixtures. After these five matches, there are two more tough ones against Stuttgart and Köln.
Bayern’s performance against Dortmund will be the true indicator of how well they can do without Schweinsteiger. It is not time to worry yet as, after all, the indicator of a champion side is one that can win even when things aren’t going their way.
