If I could have seen you just once more, tell you how much you're adored. Joshua Walter Kimmich is a force of nature, but unlike most forces of nature that leave destruction and chaos in their wake, Kimmich is the opposite. Any football pitch the German steps into becomes a vessel of structure and principle. Kimmich's ability to control entire games from his space is unfathomable, and he showed it today against Augsburg with his carries into space, long passes, tempo setting and even his shots from distance when Augsburg afforded him space to carry the ball.
The 3-0 scoreline makes sense in terms of quantifying Bayern's dominance, but the goals themselves - minus the last one - feel somewhat unearned. Bayern Munich met FC Augsburg in the first of this season's Bavarian derbies, and while Bayern had essentially climbed all over Augsburg's paralysed body, they just couldn't seem to land the killing blows until Harry Kane found the breakthrough from a handball penalty.
Kimmich was relentless, a one-man tempo machine, the hi-hat of Vincent Kompany's drum kit. No matter what's happening everywhere else, the team has a hi-hat doing 16th notes so they all know where they are in the groove. Kimmich's complete control over the centre reduced the build-up burdens of Michael Olise and Leon Goretzka too, who were subsequently able to explore spaces deeper inside Augsburg's block, stretching their defensive structure further.
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