Three things we learnt from the Bundesliga konferenz – Harry Kane, Dominik Kohr and Hamburger SV | OneFootball

Matchday four of the Bundesliga kicked off with VfB Stuttgart beating St.Pauli 2-0 on Friday; the Saturday afternoon games saw eight teams in action.

Bayern Munich were the only team to play European football in midweek. Following a 3-1 win against Chelsea, they faced Hoffenheim in Sinsheim. Augsburg would host Mainz, Hamburger played Heidenheim in what looked like an early relegation six-pointer, and Werder Bremen played against Freiburg.

Here are the three things we learnt:

Harry Kane is better without Jamal Musiala:

In Bayern’s 4-1 win against Hoffenheim, Kane scored his ninth Bundesliga hat-trick. He opened the scoring from a corner in the first half, before two penalties in the second half completed his hat-trick. This is also his second hat-trick of the season, having scored in the opening day win against RB Leipzig.

Now, to the main point.

The absence of Jamal Musiala in the early stages of the season has allowed Kane to make use of all of his qualities. Musiala’s absence means that Serge Gnabry plays alongside Michael Olise and Luis Diaz, as Gnabry is not the type of forward to drop deep to receive the ball, which has allowed Kane to start dropping deeper to receive. On top of this, the directness of both Diaz and Gnabry allows this to be an effective tactic for Bayern.

It will be interesting to see how this changes once Musiala returns to the team and is back up to speed later this year.

Dominik Kohr may be the dirtiest player in Bundesliga history:

Not quite yet, but Kohr is well on his way to being the dirtiest player in the history of the Bundesliga – at least statistically.

Via transfermarkt, Kohr has collected the second most points (points are awarded for yellow and red cards) in Bundesliga history, behind only Steffen Effenberg. His sending off in Mainz’s 4-1 win against Augsburg now puts him less than 10 points behind the former midfielder. Considering Kohr is only 31, it is very likely that he could overtake Effenberg this season. However, Kohr’s sending off does mean he is the joint record holder for sending offs in the league’s history, alongside Jens Nowtony and Luis Gustavo.

Away from Kohr, Mainz put in a strong performance as they comfortably beat Augsburg. The 05ers had struggled to score from open play, but they were finally able to when Arminido Sieb opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Kohr would make it 2-0, then Paul Nebel 3-0, before Sieb scored his second of the game to make it 4-0. Samuel Essende would score a consolation for Augsburg to make it 4-1.

If you have noticed, Augsburg have rebranded its tunnel so it is like an entrance to a Roman colosseum. (One for the history nerds) The city of Augsburg was founded in 15 BC by Augustus, who was the founder of the Roman Empire.

To be fair to Augsburg, they did embody the Roman spirit. If that spirit was from the Battle of Cannae, where the Romans lost to Hannibal, one of the great wins for Carthage during the Punic Wars (Google it).

Hamburg wins their first game back in the Bundesliga:

As the saying goes, you wait for a bus, and two come at once. That is what happened with HSV.

Only HSV and Borussia Mönchengladbach had failed to score in the league, and they finally scored their first Bundesliga goal in seven years when Luka Vuskovic scored late in the first half.

Then in the second half, Rayan Phillippe would make it 2-0 for HSV following an assist from Arsenal loanee Fabio Vieira. Hamburg were able to hold off a late Heidenheim revival to win their first game of the season.

Considering most of this team has little Bundesliga experience, the win will provide them with a big confidence boost. HSV can now build on as they look likely to be battling relegation this season, plus they have also beaten a relegation candidate.

HSV also have a favourable run of games on the horizon – Union Berlin (A), Mainz (H), RB Leipzig (A), Wolfsburg (H). Points from three of those games would be considered a major success.

GGFN | Jack Meenan