MY ACCOUNT
Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Muller vented their frustration at Bayern Munich’s shock defeat to Augsburg by questioning the team’s collective effectiveness in defensive situations.
Bayern were dominant for almost the entire match on Friday but still lost 2-1, with Mads Pedersen and Andre Hahn putting Augsburg 2-0 up before Robert Lewandowski pulled a goal back just before half-time.
While the second half was even more one-sided in Bayern’s favour than the first, they did not exactly pepper Rafal Gikiewicz’s goal, with the visitors’ expected goals (xG) value only reaching a modest 1.4.
On the other hand, Augsburg scored twice from an xG value of just 0.6, highlighting just how clinical they were – though questions look set to be asked of the Bayern defence.
This was the fourth time in five matches – a run that includes a 5-0 defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach in the DFB-Pokal – Bayern have conceded at least twice in a match, while they have now let in 13 Bundesliga goals from 9.8 xG against.
Only Greuther Furth (8.6) and Hertha Berlin (6.6) have worse xG against differentials than Bayern (3.2) this season, and Opta’s expected goals on target conceded (xGOT) data suggests Manuel Neuer is a big part of the problem, putting him at fault for roughly 3.4 goals – the fourth-worst in the division.
Neuer failed to keep out Hahn’s header despite getting a hand to it on Friday, though Muller and Nagelsmann pointed the finger at the defence as a collective.
“The first half was bad, very bad and in the second half you could see that we wanted to turn it around, but maybe we didn’t deserve that little bit of luck in front of goal,” Muller told DAZN.
“This is a bitter setback for our confidence… [but] what wasn’t good today should get better.
“I think when you have the feeling in every game that you can score three or four goals, you lose a bit of hunger defensively. We noticed that over and over again in the past few games.”
Head coach Nagelsmann added: “We’re conceding the goals the same way throughout the season.
“We discussed it yesterday, and today we conceded both goals the same way again. The opponent didn’t really have any moments of brilliance and still scored two goals. It was the same against Frankfurt.
“I think the important thing is that if there’s not much going on in attack in a game, you must be more stable at the back. One impacts the other.
“Overall we didn’t create enough and didn’t have enough shots on goal.”
