Our next opponents: Herrlich banks on pace

Position

FC Augsburg are possibly the biggest surprise over the first four Bundesliga matchdays of the season. FCA are currently in sixth position on seven points – and that is in spite of a tough set of opening fixtures. An away win at Union Berlin for starters was followed by games against Borussia Dortmund, VfL Wolfsburg and RB Leipzig – all matches where FCA were clearly the underdogs. But the team coached by Heiko Herrlich sprang a real surprise with a 2-0 win against BVB and they held out for a draw away to Wolfsburg. The first defeat of the season only came last weekend against the league leaders from Leipzig. “We don’t have to be ashamed of that performance,” Herrlich justifiably remarked. The 48-year-old predecessor to Peter Bosz was the Werkself coach from July 2017 to December 2018 and he has been at the helm at Augsburg since March. Herrlich saved FCA from relegation after the restart and overall he has a decent record in the Bundesliga of four wins, three draws and four defeats. The only cup tie for Herrlich to date was won comfortably with a 7-0 victory for Augsburg in the first round of the DFB Cup at MTV Eintracht Celle (Lower Saxony).

Personnel

Herrlich is not normally a friend of Monday games but, “I see a lot of advantages in this particular case,” said the FCA coach to kicker. The reason: Last week, a large number of players at FCA were injured or tired after being away on international duty. Against Leipzig you could “see in one or two of the situations that there was a lack of freshness,” he said. Now his players have been able to enjoy a couple of days more rest to gather their strength for the game against the Werkself. It also means Herrlich can again call on two key performers: Left-back Iago, who was ruled out of the squad against Leipzig due to illness, is available again – as is striker Florian Niederlechner who was only on the subs bench following an injury.

Niederlechner will have to manage without his regular strike partner. Alfred Finnbogason suffered a thigh injury playing for Iceland against Denmark (0-3) and is set to be out of action for several weeks. A bitter blow as the striker, a true fox in the box, is still one of the best forwards in the Bundesliga. But, over his time at FCA (since 2016), Finnbogason has never played more than 22 Bundesliga games in a season because of injuries. Herrlich is also missing his midfielder Jan Moravek due to a muscular injury.

Performers

Even without Finnbogason, Augsburg still have a lot of quality in attack – particularly in terms of pace. Regardless of whether that’s Daniel Caligiuri, Ruben Vargas, Marco Richter, André Hahn or Noah Sarenren Bazee: The FCA wingers are all lightning fast and can pose a real threat to any team in counter-attacks. For a central striker, Niederlechner also has an impressive basic speed. Together with Schalke returnee Michael Gregoritsch, he forms a powerful strike force in the absence of Finnbogason. Perhaps the biggest plus up front for FCA in the opening games of the season: Augsburg have been clinical in front of goal. Against Union Berlin, Herrlich’s team only needed four chances to score three goals and against Dortmund three opportunities for two goals.

Problems

Those stats not only reveal the great strength but also a weakness of Augsburg: The team create few chances from open play. Against very compact opponents, where FCA cannot make use of their pace in attack, there’s often a lack of inspiration from midfield to find solutions in build-up play against teams that press hard. “We didn’t manage to find a solution and get on the front foot,” complained Herrlich after the defeat against Leipzig.

Prediction

Against Dortmund, Augsburg impressively demonstrated to the whole league that they are capable of hurting any other side – including the big clubs. FCA definitely have enough quality to achieve the main target of staying up and thereby come out unscathed from their tenth Bundesliga season in succession. That would be a remarkable success for the whole club.