It was etched onto their faces. You didn't even need to listen to what the BVB players were saying after their 2-1 loss to FC Augsburg to deduce how disappointed they were. They had denied themselves the victory they so craved and were instead condemned to a bitter defeat – their second of the season and their second against a team entrenched in the bottom third of the table. "We need to learn from our mistakes and improve. The way we performed in Augsburg wasn't good enough," said Thomas Delaney.

Defensively, FC Augsburg took inspiration from 1. FC Nuremberg, whose close-knit 4-5-1 formation had earned them a 0-0 draw with Borussia Dortmund 11 days earlier. Upon regaining possession, the Swabians attacked energetically and used the slippery surface to force the mistake that brought about the opener midway through the first half.

In contrast to their goalless draw with Nuremberg, however, BVB created a raft of good chances. Reus (8th minute) and Sancho (15 and 80th minutes) went close, while another three gilt-edged opportunities were thwarted by brilliant saves from Augsburg shot-stopper Gregor Kobel. In the 42nd minute, for example, Jakob Bruun Larsen brilliantly plucked Mario Götze's lofted pass out of the sky with his left foot before shooting with his right. Then, substitute Paco Alcácer almost scored from a volley towards the bottom corner in the 75th minute following another perfect pass into his path by Götze, whose powerful and precise 87th-minute effort from 16 metres out was well-stopped.

Aside from an inexplicable slump in the opening 20 minutes of the second period, BVB boss Lucien Favre thought his players produced an "okay" attacking performance. "We had five or six clear chances to score. And we showed the desire that we wanted to win the game."

But the self-inflicted two-goal deficit ultimately proved too much of a mountain to climb. "We gifted them the goals through two individual errors. Then it's obviously difficult to come back when you're 2-0 behind," said Marco Reus, who had returned to the team after three and a half weeks out and will be gradually reintroduced to first-team action in the coming weeks. "We need to continue to manage him carefully," said Favre. "We don't want there to be a setback and so we'll continue to monitor whether he needs to come off at half-time."

But back to the Augsburg game, which Roman Bürki felt had "once again" been "frustrating". Speaking to BVB TV after the final whistle, the Swiss shot-stopper said: "We gave away two goals and therefore completely unnecessarily lost the game. We couldn't find a way to make amends for the two mistakes." Only Alcácer found the net in the end, slotting home in the 81st minute following link-up play from Sancho and Götze.

On the journey home, several senior players put their heads together. "I don't want to talk about individual errors," declared Thomas Delaney. "The team performance wasn't good enough." But, it must be noted, this is a team that was only assembled in the summer and is going through a development process. Setbacks are part and parcel of that.
Boris Rupert