Match Number 2 - Augsburg vs FC Koln 07/06/2020
- Jake P
- Jun 10, 2020
- 10 min read
I will be completely honest before we start, I had never heard of Augsburg, not just in a footballing sense, but as a city in general. This match wasn't going to be like watching Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich, two giants of German football, this match was about trying to broaden my understanding of football, while also trying to expand on my geographical knowledge of Germany.
Before the match started, I did some research, not just on the football team, but the city as a whole. I learnt that Augsburg is located in the Free State of Bavaria, which is located in the southeastern corner of Germany, while being one of the oldest cities in the country - you never know what may come up on your next zoom quiz!
While my brain was now filled with rich history of the city of Augsburg, I needed to turn my attention to the cities football team and with that, my research begun.
Before the suspension of the Bundesliga, Augsburg's last match was against Bayern Munich, which as you may have guessed was a bit of a formality, with Bayern winning 2-0 and the defeat turning out to be Martin Schmidt's last game in charge, having been sacked the following day. Augsburg didn't waste anytime in appointing their new head coach, in the form of Heiko Herrlich, a decorated former player, having won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund among many other titles with various teams and making 5 appearances for the German national team.
Herrlich was stepping into a new job at what a pessimist might describe as bad timing, due to not being able to be on the training pitch with his new team and set out his playing style. With this being said, the optimists would have had a completely different perspective, he could trawl through footage of previous games, he could work out how they can built on the really positive side of their footballing style, while trying to discover solutions as to where they can improve.
Since the restart of the Bundesliga, Augsburg have picked up 4 points out of a possible 12 (wining 1, drawing 1, losing 2) and desperately need to get some more points on the board if they want to stop looking in a 360 motion at the teams around them and secure their Bundesliga future, with todays opposition Köln, being one of those teams.
Their opposition FC Köln, I am a little bit more familiar with, who are 3 points in front of Augsburg going into this game. I saw Köln play at St. Marys in a pre-season friendly in July before the start of the 19/20 season and they have various international players from various different countries in their squad, but captain and German international, Jonas Hector, is one of the stand out names in the starting 11.
As we look at the starting line-ups, I see a familiar name on the Augsburg bench, Reece Oxford, who was once at Premier League outfit, West Ham. Both teams set out in the same formations, but from what I saw at St. Marys in the pre-season fixture, FC Köln are easily exposed at the back, with Che Adams causing their central defenders chaos with his strength and pace. The expected formations above, I think will turn out to be both teams in-possession formations, while going into a 1-4-5-1 out of possession, with FC Kölne conceding for fun and Augsburg needing a result.
Something that has caught my eye is that Hector has moved away from the Left Back position where he established himself for both club and country and has moved into a central midfield role, something his international team mate Joshua Kimmich has done in recent times. Are we starting to see another German blueprint with converting fullbacks into central midfielders?
Continuing on the subject of Left Backs, I keep seeing the name Philipp Max mentioned in my research, he is meant to be a really forward thinking, modern Left Back, who is also apparently a bit of a dead ball specialist. Augsburg also have their top scorer fit again, Florian Niederlechner, who has 11 goals and six assists in the Bundesliga this season, but hasn’t made a direct goal contribution since the start of February.
As the game gets under way, Augsburg are by far the more energetic team, they start brightly and on the front foot, taking the game to their opposition and in the opening 2 minutes, Max readies himself to take a free kick, which he whips into the box. Kölne originally deal with the arial cross, but Augsburg pick the ball up again on the opposite side of the 18 yard box to where Max took the free kick and swing the ball straight back in to the danger area. Before Köln have time to get out of the box, the ball falls to Ruben Vargas who is completely unmarked at the back post and hits it first time, but Timo Horn gets back across his goal well to make the save.
The attempt from Vargas should be a warning sign to Köln, who are still yet to get going, they are lethargic and don't look up for the fight, while seeming pretty persistent with trying to play out from the back, which ultimately gets them nowhere, they go sideways more often than not and they dont appear to have much confidence playing that style of football. Köln have however identified a tactic that could really work to exploit Augsburg, a diagonal switch, from their left side to their right side, with Max venturing forward more often than not.
Augsburg, who are still the only team asking any questions of their respective opponents, are creating some good patterns of play, they are using the width of the pitch well, trying to drag Kölne out of their defensive shape and have been successful in doing so, with Max playing a lovely pass inbetween Köln's right back and right sided centre back for Niederlechner to spin and run onto, but Rafael Czichos makes a great recovery run and just does enough to put Niederlechner off to make a block and put the ball behind for a corner.
Köln's defending from set pieces, as we saw in the opening 2 minutes of the match, is a big weakness and it is only being highlighted the more this match goes on, but Augsburg have so far been unable to take advantage. Köln have another problem to worry about, Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee, who is a fast and strong winger, he moves the ball between his feet so well and can turn a defender with ease, he is causing Schmitz havoc, this battle is going to be interesting.
Augsburg have now identified a potential route to victory, get Sarenren Bazee going up against Schmitz as much as possible, even if the ball doesn't reach him, his objective is clear, worry Scmitz and make it him play with his back to his own goal. With just a quarter of the match played, Scmitz has to make a cynical challenge on Sarenren Bazee, which stopped him having a clear path towards the Kölne goal, and the defender picks up an early yellow card for his efforts.
Sarenren Bazee has decided that he now wants to trouble Timo Horn. After an Augsburg free kick that Kölne yet again, fail to deal with after a questionable backwards header by Hector, Horn and Sarenren Bazee both race towards the lose ball in the 18 yard box and there was always only going to be one winner, with Horn conceding a penalty. Niederlechner picks up the ball and places it on the penalty spot, it was time for him to end of his goal drought of 9 games. Niederlechner sets himself and starts to make his run towards the ball, he hits with some serious force, but its a good height for Horn, who gets a firm hand to the ball and pushes it over the cross bar.
Markus Gisdol looks frustrated and feels the need to make an early intervention, with Schmitz already on a yellow card and probably lucky to get away with a 2nd bookable offence after another rash challenge, Scmitz is withdrawn, with 19 year old Noah Katterbach sent on to battle against Sarenren Bazee.
The game has become more open with both teams becoming a little bit disjointed and now able to find a little bit more space as we head into the closing minutes of the first half, this seems to benefit Köln a little bit more, with Augsburg's midfield 2 seeming to be a little bit behind the pace of the game when in possesion, leaving some gaps, which allows Köln that extra second in the middle of the pitch. Hector is seeing more of the ball and is able to have some control of the tempo of the game, while Mark Uth is able to join up with Jhon Córdoba at the top end of the pitch.
Córdoba looks to be that centre forward that centre backs would prefer not to play against, he's powerful, he can hold the ball up well while his team get forward, he seems to be able to choose the right pass more often than not and is always looking to try and burst into the box. With the praise I have given to Córdoba, Felix Uduokhai looks like he could be a future German centre back, he has made it difficult for Córdoba, standing his ground well while hardly letting him out of his sight.
As we head into break level at 0-0, Augsburg have certainly been the better of the two teams and deserve to be ahead, creating a number of really good chances while of course having a penalty saved. Köln need to get the ball up to Córdoba quicker to play off him, he should be aiming to move the ball wide right, to get Florian Kainz into the spaces Max is leaving. To put the first half into perpective, Timo Horn has had 35 touches in the first 45 minutes.
For the start of the second half, Köln have opted to make a change with the introduction of Marco Höger to partner Hector in the centre of the midfield. From what I have gagged from the first half, the change is designed to produce more creativity and attacking play from Köln, freeing up the likes of Hector and Uth, while having a solid defensive pivot in front of the back 4 to stop the ball being played to Niederlechner quite as easily.
Köln have come out of the dressing room ready to go and they win an early corner, which unfortunately for them amounts to nothing and other than Sarenren Bazee starting the 2nd half as bright as he was in the 1st half, the game has slowed down, the formations seem to have cancelled each other out and its turning out to be a pretty cagey start to the second half with neither team being brave and set a precedent.
Remarkably, other than a Köln freekick, which again amounts to nothing, it takes until the 60th minute for anything significant to happen, with Köln finding the feet of Córdoba, who instantly moves it to his right to find Kainz who delivers an expert ball along the floor into the box, to find the equally brilliant run of Ismail Jakobs, but Andreas Luthe is alert and makes a great save with his leg.
Köln are still probing trying to find the goal that will give them the advantage and see them go 6 points ahead of todays opposition if they can get that goal and hang on to it, but with 25 minutes or so of the game still left to play, neither team have been able to make a break through. Kainz is still able to find space over on his right hand flank, as Max continues to advance but Uduokhai is covering the left back well and at just 22 he seems to be such an accomplished player.
With time running out and the final whistle edging ever closer, both teams are now seemingly more desperate to try and get that winning goal, Köln make a change, taking take off Córdoba and replacing him with Anthony Modeste, would he offer a different dimension to Köln's game, possibly make a run in behind insead of coming short, which could be needed, after Uduokhai seeming to be so comfortable with Córdoba.
At last, we have a break through in the 85th minute! Modeste has been on the pitch for roughly 3 minutes and has put Köln infront. The ball is a deep cross into the box and this time Augsburg defending has let them down, Jakobs is unmarked at the back post and does well to back track to get his head on the cross and cushion it down to Modeste, who possibly could have been closed down quicker, but its an exceptional half volley with his left foot, drilled straight into Luthe's bottom left corner.
With Köln looking like they will be heading home with all 3 points to their name, they sit in their shape in their own half, letting Augsburg have the ball. Augsburg move the ball to their ride side, where they have been most dangerous all match, Köln's early replacement left back steps out to challenge Raphael Framberger, who goes past him as if he wasn't even their and hangs the ball up to the back post where there is space in abundance for someone to come and attack the ball. From Augsburg's lefthand touchline, Max hasn't been picked up and gambles, making a free run towards the 6 yard box to meet the cross and opens his foot to side foot the ball first time past Horn. That lapse in concentration and quite frankly, dreadful defending, has just cost Köln 2 points with 2 minutes left of the match.
1-1 and a point each I think overall is a fair result, Augsburg certainly were the better team for most of the match, but they should have taken their chances but Timo Horn kept Köln in the game. I really enjoyed watching certain players in this match, like I said in my introduction, I had no background knowledge of Augsburg, I was able to look at their team and players from a completely new perspective and try to dissect their game plan and style of play.
The central forward change made by Köln was a good shout, Modeste went and put himself up against Tin Jedvaj, instead of Uduokhai, which I would be interested to know if he personally observed how well Uduokhai dealt with his colleague Córdoba and chose to target Jedvaj, or if the coaching team spotted it and sent him on with the brief.
Max is a player who in my opinion should be playing Champions League football and I don't think it will be long until he is, he is the definition of a modern full back, scoring 8 goals this season and taking set pieces with the exact same technique as James Ward-Prowse.
For me, man of the match was Sarenren Bazee, he had his direct opponent booked within 15 minutes, Schmitz was then walking a red card tight rope shortly after, before being taken off by his manager after 28 minutes. Oh, he also won a penalty for Augsburg. Another player to watch out for in the future, of that, I am certain.
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