Except for the last 2 international breaks, they've gone from good performance → ok performance → disaster (think Spain and N. Macedonia). So the longer Jogi coaches, the worse the team performs. If this holds true I expect a loss with Portugal, probably a worse score line then against France and a possible loss or draw with Hungary.
The central midfield looks too imbalanced for Germany. Gundogan has to make way for Goretzka moving into the knockout stages. The defending from set-pieces also needs work. Low will need to work on that in training. If Germany play a high line against sides with very fast, clinical forwards, they will concede goals. These are the weak links in Germany's defense. The lack of quality finishing looks to be the biggest worry. Low's solution was to play the ball into the 6 yard box and hope for the ball to get bundled in. Germany can't count on opposition defenders to put the ball into the back of their own net. They can't count on their own strikers reacting quickly enough to tap in a finish when the ball whizzes across so fast. This is also an area the goalkeeper commands with a great deal of refereeing protection. Germany need to produce some quality finishes if they expect to beat quality teams. Germany did well to create width, which was missing against France. It created space in the middle for Germany to work the ball through, but Portugal's defending this game was more of an anomaly. They didn't really put in challenges and in an odd way let Germany walk through their defense. They were a bit in a state of shock after the two own goals. The defense lost confidence and composure. This was a great win for Germany, but there are things for the critics to still pick at.
Gosens defiantly the biggest winner of the tourney so far as Germany goes - meaning that he has cemented his staring spot for NT. Note this excluded the oldies and Kimmich. I am talking about the newer guys. I also think Rudiger and Ginter have really plaid well, and will for sure be part of our WC team. Would like to see Gintner play for a bigger club this next season.
I am not that convinced just swapping LG for Gundo helps much as Gundo has the all around game and is very good defensively I suspect we'll see them used in rotation e.g. LG coming on against tired legs Would also be interested to see if Germany would ever switch to 4 3 3 in game with kimmich moving to 6 or right back
Yes agreed... I think Jogi should at least keep that as a back up plan ... to switch formations in a game - Jogi seems to one dimensional with his subs, he tends to sub man for man with no real tactical change - but what do I know
I think Loew will stick to current formation. It enables the team to play defensively, keeping the wingbacks back and switch to offense by moving the wingbacks forward while allowing for defensive cover with 3 CBs. This allows the team switch back and forth between defensive and attacking play as needed without changing formation or personnel.
Out of topic but I wonder why Neuer wear that LGBT armband instead of the UEFA custom armband or the Germany armband? Is this is his personal choice? IMO he just should upload anything personal in his Instagram, dont mix it up with football. I prefer the German captain to wear the Spielfuehrer armband, what a badass armband.
dont know him personally but i doubt it was his idea. dfb like much of todays society always pushing an agenda. question it and you'll be branded.
For Germany, you guys basically have to win your last Group game against Hungary to basically lock up your spot for the Round of 16. But then if you draw with Hungary, you would end up on 4 points but would that even be enough to get into the Round of 16? Because wouldn't it come down to goal difference ultimately
Hungary they managed to draw with France so if I were Germany, I would literally throw everything at Hungary offensively
Hungary will be taken out of their comfort of Budapest and playing at Munich will be a big challenge for them. I fully expect us to throw the kitchen sink at them and win handsomely.
Would be nice to see Musiala get some minutes, if he can score he would break the record for youngest ever goalscorer at the Euros, currently held by Johan Vonlanthen. (18yrs 141 days)
Which could be a big mistake and what Hungary want. Hungary demonstrated that they are tight defensively and live off the counter. Germany are the opposite and if not careful and have well-thought-out tactics to deal with Hungary's game plan could be in real trouble.
Comment on Germany in the Euros, good for a read: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...m_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=fiver_email
THhe tournament can begin,” as Toni Kroos drily observed. And certainly after the disappointment against France on Tuesday night it was impossible to watch Germany’s breezy, brassy win against Portugal on Saturday without wondering whether it might just be the start of something: a stirring, an awakening, a team and a system and perhaps even an idea twitching belatedly to life. As the goals piled up, as Germany’s flying wing-backs sliced and shredded the defending champions – Rúben Dias, Pepe and all – on their way to a 4-2 triumph, the temptation was to declare that this was a film we had all seen before. Right on cue, and with perfect timing, The Germans (and for some reason it always is The Germans, never just Germany) have finally turned up. The Germans are coming. Never, ever write off The Germans. Naturally this is a footballing instinct conditioned and honed by decades of actual history, imperfect memory and impeccable national myth-making. The idea of Germany as the ultimate Turniermannschaft – the restrained, imperious “tournament team” that husbands its energies, keeps its cool and manages to peak just when it matters – remains a potent and irrepressible trope to Germans and foreigners alike, one that has endured well beyond the point where it is justified by reality. It is worth recalling that many of the ominous pronouncements being made about Germany now were also being produced in 2018, after Kroos’s thrilling last-minute free-kick in the second group game against Sweden. That triumph proved to be illusory; this may not, and yet in a way the same fallacy underpins both. For a team of supposedly peerless tournament pedigree, Germany have arguably underperformed over the past 25 years: one win, two finals and at least three semi-final chokes a slightly disappointing return on a generation of such abundant talent. The wider point, though, is not so much what Germany have achieved as the manner in which they have achieved it. Over the past decade, Joachim Löw’s side have actually become the very antithesis of the Turniermannschaft, the sober and reliable tournament performers. Instead, with their relentless full-throttle approach, embrace of chaos and vulnerability to the counterattack, they have become the popular entertainers of international football: richly gifted, crowd-pleasing and often wildly inconsistent from one game to the next. This is a team that can lose 6-0 against Spain and 2-1 against North Macedonia and yet still, somehow, retain the ring of potential champions. Is this the most fun German team in history? The 2014 team were certainly better on paper (and even they went from 1-0 to 7-1 to 1-0 in three consecutive games). The 2018 team outstripped them for sheer seat-of-your-pants, Manuel-Neuer-in-the-opposition-half craziness. But there were flashes and passages against Portugal that in their expressiveness and exuberance were the equal of almost anything a recent German side has produced. Fighting for their tournament lives, Germany did not retreat into their shells but exploded out of them. The 3-4-3 that was really a 3-2-5 pressed daringly high up the pitch, pinged the ball from flank to flank like freestylers playing keepy-uppies across a six-lane motorway, flooded the penalty area with white shirts. All five German goals – four of them legal and one, a spectacular volley by Robin Gosens that was ruled out for offside – either originated with the wing-backs or were finished by them, or often both. The Atalanta left-back Gosens is an agreeably winsome character: the fullest expression of this modern Germany and yet one has not played a minute of top-flight German football, a recognisably human character in an industrialised, academy-polished team. Elsewhere you had the unflappable genius of Joshua Kimmich on the opposite flank, the restless desire of Serge Gnabry, the flawless instinct of Kai Havertz up front, who looks like a Habsburg prince going through his difficult goth phase. Unlikely hero Robin Gosens shows Germany anything is possible Read more It was brilliant, demented fun. And yet, in a strangely protective way, you still worry a little about this team: particularly when they come up against opponents less receptive to their high-rolling style. Portugal essentially spooked themselves in Munich: Fernando Santos withdrawing the dangerous Bernardo Silva at half-time and changing formations at least twice. Still they managed to score two laughably easy goals, one on the break and one at a set piece, and could have had more. Hungary, Germany’s next opponents, managed to hold the world champions France to a 1-1 draw by relying almost entirely on those two tactics. This is not 2018 and Germany are (probably) not about to crash out of their own party. But many of the underlying flaws from Russia have been left unaddressed: a slightly chewy centre, weird lapses of concentration at the back, a coach who seems increasingly unsure of himself. Equally, this is a team more likeable, more enterprising and more purely enjoyable than any recent predecessors. It could crash and burn, or it could fill the sky with flame. Either way, you suspect it’s going to be terrific fun finding out.
Apologies, I didn't think it was behind a paywall (unless it's geo located somehow ) - It wasn't for me - haven't paid them a cent although they keep on telling me how many articles I've read and that perhaps I should consider subscribing. Thanks @BorisG for posting the whole article.
I get the same messages whenever I read an article on The Guardian, but so far I've ignored the requests without any problems.