The absence of Joshua Kimmich is not an “excuse” for the defeat in Augsburg, says Julian Nagelsmann. But not only the coach of FC Bayern is dissatisfied. About the ongoing discussion about the corona vaccination, but also about the consequences of Kimmich’s renewed quarantine.
Of course, the question had to come up whether Bayern’s second defeat in the current Bundesliga season had anything to do with Joshua Kimmich. Julian Nagelsmann admitted that “there are phases in life that are quieter” after a week that could hardly have been worse for the league leaders. At least in the public eye. First the positive corona tests with defender Josip Stanisic and two members of the support staff, then the renewed order of quarantine for Joshua Kimmich because the unvaccinated national player had contact with an infected person for the second time in a short time and finally the surprising and disappointing 1: 2 ( 1: 2) defeat at FC Augsburg.
“I don’t think that’s an excuse,” said Nagelsmann about the failure of Kimmich, who after the DFB-Elf will now be missing for his club for at least two games. And other clubs could “whine a lot more with one or two failures. We at Bayern Munich shouldn’t do it.” But it is not just the absence of the 26-year-old on the football field, it is also the unrest and seemingly endless discussion that Kimmich triggered with his vaccination skepticism. “We have to close the construction sites,” said Nagelsmann, referring to the negligence in the 90 minutes on Friday evening. But it is a sentence that could also apply to the fuss about its driver in the midfield.
“Our attitude and attitude is known,” said sports director Hasan Salihamidzic in Augsburg again and again, saying that FC Bayern is emphatically promoting getting vaccinated, “because that is the only way out of the pandemic.” He also emphasized “that this is not everyone’s opinion” and “we have to accept it”, but: “We know how difficult it is.” Because in view of the currently exponentially increasing number of infections, Kimmich has to reckon with at least seven days of quarantine for contacts with infected people – this requirement would not be applicable after a vaccination. “The numbers are terrifying,” Nagelsmann said before the Augsburg game, “we notice it with us too. There are always problem cases.”
Sabitzer could be a lot better
Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, who were quarantined together with Kimmich after the corona infection, were back against the FCA, but could not prevent the bankruptcy. If Borussia Dortmund wins its home game against VfB Stuttgart in the afternoon (3:30 p.m. in the live ticker at ntv.de), the black and yellow players move up to one point on the Munich team. “Of course the topic” Corona “is annoying, complained Nagelsmann, who repeatedly advertises the vaccination,” that annoys everyone “- but the questions will remain as long as Kimmich is out because he decides against a spade whose advantages are scientifically undisputed.
Nagelsmann is still critical of the vaccination requirement for footballers, which has been discussed again and again these days. “I don’t know why professional athletes now need to be vaccinated and others don’t,” without deviating from his clear recommendation that they should be vaccinated. When asked about the political discussions, Salihamidzic said that Bayern would “do it as they decide”. Even if it sometimes seems as if the demand came about in the first place because of the Kimmich case – an obligation and compliance with it would save the Munich residents from exposing their service providers to the risk of quarantine with every contact.
Especially since his absence against Augsburg was obvious. “For the first time as a Bayern coach, I’m really mad at us,” said Nagelsmann, venting his anger at the defeat, “because we have to do better.” He attested his team “an incredible amount of space in the central area, especially in the six-person room”. So exactly where else Kimmich arranges the game. But “every second ball in the six-room was a back pass”, the actions there “rarely directed forward”. Substitute Marcel Sabitzer still doesn’t seem to have arrived at Bayern, his frivolous loss of the ball in the build-up of the game initiated the interim 0: 2 by André Hahn. “There is much, much more in Sabi than we are currently seeing,” said Nagelsmann, hiding his criticism in praise that at the same time clearly calls for increased performance.
Müller misses “extreme greed”
Of course, the third defeat in the 19th competitive game of the season – before there was a 1: 2 against Frankfurt in the league and the 0: 5 in the Cup in Gladbach – cannot be reduced to the avoidable absence of Joshua Kimmich. After the final whistle, captain Manuel Neuer said: “We definitely have to win against such a team” because “we have the better quality”. Thomas Müller even saw a “bitter setback in our self-image”. In addition to the negligence in defense, all of them also criticized the weak offensive performance of their team.
“If there is not much going forward, you have to be more stable at the back,” summarizes a visibly pissed off nail man. Neuer put it similarly: “We just weren’t there in the first half, we had too little activity and too little courage in the game forward. That’s why we created too few scoring opportunities.” Müller missed the “extreme greed on the defensive” that is needed “when you have a day when it might run against you in 50:50 situations.”
Ultimately, as the conversations after Augsburg’s sensational victory made clear, football is a pure result sport after all. At least in the sense that the result dictates the headlines and the topics that are talked about. Especially at Bayern, for whom and where success is the norm and failure is the exception, especially in the Bundesliga. Especially when the club is accompanied by such avoidable unrest as it is these days. And maybe also because, despite this defeat, nobody seriously doubts that Munich will become German champions for the tenth time in a row at the end of the season.