Pre-match: (EURO 2016 - Group Stage) Germany vs. Ukraine 06.12.2016 [R]

It was only the first game and I have decided that I will make it out to every tournament as long as I can.

 

In the TGV tomorrow if there is wifi. Otherwise when I get to my place in Lyon in the afternoon. Have a few videos too. We dominated the stadium. Heimsieg

 

A 2-0 in the first much is gold dust.

Obviously it could have been better in a few areas, but at least Löw is verbalising his dissatisfaction with those areas that weren't so good.

 

When is muller going to score a euro goal?

 

There's a reason he plays for a mid-table team in Spain. Hummels needs to get fit ASAP.

Watching the offense was painful. The execution and finishing were poor. Goetze is not a striker nor a false 9. The team was all to content to launch 30 yard shots courtesy of Kroos & Khedira. Drax & Ozil played too wide to be effective and Ozil's finishing is still non-existent. Having only 1 target in the box (Mueller) didn't help. Gomez would've been effective had he played. The team was lucky today but against better teams, we'll need to step it up.

I will say the counter-attack goal by Schweini was unexpected because Schweini hasn't played since March, he's lost the pace (or so I thought) and Germany very rarely scores on counters.

Love this gif and will come in handy in the future.

 

Ukraine did score, they scored a Boateng.

 

@Lahmfan

It gets even better

Part 2 😂pic.twitter.com/TbZkDygOtg

— Joannes Pereira (@Joannes_7) June 12, 2016

 

I honestly don't know what to do with Low, either to laugh or be disgusted but because it's so hilarious that tops the disgust.

 

Picking his nose and eating, picking his dingle berries and sniffing his fingers, then top it off with sniffing his ball juice.....

Does he realize everyone can see him?

 

Does that make him a boss or disgusting

 

LOL, I had to laugh at a comment I read somewhere else about Low's habits.

 

Was at a pub watching the match with 10-15 German fans, 2 English guys, a mom, daughter, friend (from Ukraine). It was a great time!

Not our cleanest 3 points but a good start nonetheless....

1) Was a surprise (or didn't feel right) when during the anthem we are seeing Neuer then the camera doesn't pan all the way down to Lahm. Mueller didn't wink either! First game maybe thats why
2) Great match from Neuer, allows our back line to press really high. Almost a mistake near the end of the game when one of our defenders headed the ball over him.
3) Don't like Gotze up top, not a true striker. I'd rather see Gomez there and have Gotze come off the bench to unlock a defense when needed
4) Boateng had a great performance for 75% of the match. Saved our ass, what an athletic clearance off the line that was. Plus he was all over blocking shots and crosses
5) Like how deep Oezil drops in the center. Works good
6) SCHWEINI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was awesome. Was in there wearing my EURO 2008 Schweinsteiger jersey and everyone is like... "Where are your 4 stars?" They thanked me as they left the building
7) Ukraine was unlucky not to score. Poland will be much tougher I think

Drei Punkte! PROSSST!!!!

 

Good game. Great result for us. Not a whole lot out of Gotze, Ozil, Draxler, Mueller, but need to credit Ukrainian defense. I would have preferred 4-3-3, I think.

 

I agree with this. Kroos-Khedira both were very solid but the front four lost the ball cheaply too often and then were not attentive or committed enough defensively. Rather than play a static CDM, perhaps Kroos can continue to occupy the central distribution in front of the defensive with Khedira and one other box-to-box mid with him.

-----Gomez
Ozil---------Muller
---CM----Khedira
------Kroos

An extra box-to-box CM likely will be necessary when they battle the best European midfields in the latter stages. This is also the problem with Ozil. The assist came when the game was effectively over but he was poor in his final ball throughout. If that part of his game isn't working, his lack of defensive work rate limits his ability to play in the midfield three.