Post-Match Report
BVB put in a convincing performance against Augsburg for the full 90 minutes
After 26 of 34 matchdays, they already have one more point to their name than in the entire 2024/25 season, which was plagued by so many setbacks. Niko Kovac and his coaching staff have done more than just stabilise the team. They are now delivering results week in, week out in the bread and butter of the Bundesliga. The lead over third place now stands at eight points (although BVB still have to face third-placed Hoffenheim and fourth-placed Stuttgart in the coming weeks). Fifth place, which is outside the qualification places for the Champions League places, will be 10 or 11 points away this evening (Sunday), depending on the result of the Stuttgart v Leipzig match.
“When you start a game this well, with everyone fighting and everyone wanting the ball, it’s great fun,” said midfielder Felix Nmecha about the comfortable 2-0 win against Augsburg, adding: “We really enjoyed it and we had much more possession than in recent games.” A change in tactical approach may well have been directly responsible because instead of lining up predominantly in a 3-4-3, the Black & Yellows took on their opponents from Swabia in a 3-5-2 formation with Jobe Bellingham as the holding six. His statistics in the match were outstanding as he contested the most tackles (28) and completed 94% of his passes to teammates – usually to the attacking midfielders Nmecha and Marcel Sabitzer positioned ahead of him.
In attack, manager Niko Kovac had opted for a two-man strike force. “We wanted to attack the space behind the defence and we wanted to make things a bit more difficult for Augsburg. That meant the Augsburg back three focused on those two, which allowed us to exploit other areas of the pitch.” When selecting the two strikers, there was a reason why Maxi Beier – whose fan collection can be found here – and Karim Adeyemi were chosen: “They’re best mates. They do everything together from morning till night.” Beier set up Adeyemi for the opener and both also hit the crossbar once each.
After 90 entertaining minutes, the stats showed 12 good BVB chances, 15-3 shots on goal, 12-2 corners and 60% possession. “We created a lot of chances and should have won by a much bigger margin,” said sporting director Sebastian Kehl, who nevertheless noted with satisfaction: “Overall, we didn’t give away much in defence.” For the 12 time this Bundesliga season, the Black & Yellows kept a clean sheet, which is a Bundesliga record! It's especially remarkable considering they kept only seven clean sheets in the entire 2024/25 season.
Boris Rupert
