The German national team and their national coach are still convinced that they are on the right track after the 3:3 win over Ukraine. However, the recurring errors at least make you think.
The plan to place Leon Goretzka alone in central midfield in front of a back three in the system initially tried out was practiced and tried out in training. “It was good there. You have to believe me, even if you weren’t allowed or able to see the whole training session,” said national coach Hansi Flick. The German Football Association (DFB) gratefully accepted the suggestion of a journalist to make the units accessible in full in the future. There will be no implementation, this forecast is not too daring.
Flick: Team has “enormous quality”
Hansi Flick is the chief believer when it comes to the German national soccer team. Even after the 3-3 draw against Ukraine, the national coach believed that his assessment was correct, the team had “tremendous quality”. Even in Bremen’s Weser Stadium, this shimmered through. “To some extent it’s good football that we can play,” said Flick.
However, things got in the way again, especially the “few mistakes that we are not allowed to make”. That has been heard a lot in the past few months and years. There is a lot of work, but there is still time. According to this motto, German national coaches have been appeasing the public since 2018 until it is too late.
Too many individual mistakes
These so-called individual mistakes, they are the big problem of the German team. The consistency with which they are committed raises the question of whether there is a lack of individual quality.
It has been known for years that the defensive flanks and the storm center are weaker than in other nations that also have a claim to winning titles. But the national coach also finds it difficult to find a second central defender of a high international level apart from Antonio Rüdiger.
Even in the midfield, described as a haven of abundance of high quality, there is a lack of evidence. Goretzka tried his hand at eighth Joshua Kimmich and Julian Brandt at eighth/tenth on Monday (June 12th, 2023) in Bremen. There were only a few good moments from the trio going forward, Brandt was mainly noticed because of his play error before the 1: 1 and the unclean pass to Matthias Ginter, who processed it technically poorly before the 1: 3.
Flick changes to 4-3-3 after an hour
Flick gave up the test with the back three after a good hour in order to strengthen the offensive by switching to a 4-3-3 and changing personnel. So a defeat in the anniversary game should be prevented, which succeeded with oh and noisy.
“Cheer up, keep going,” was Flick’s slogan, and everything indicates that there should be “keep it up”. In any case, the national coach said that he still wants to play with a back three from time to time because it’s just good to be able to “play a second system”.
Flick does not question the basic orientation, although Niclas Füllkrug gave a useful hint to at least think about it. “We were very dominant in the first half without being in control,” said the Werder Bremen striker.
Ukraine surprised DFB-Elf
Ball losses led to a loss of control on the defensive. Ukraine surprised Germany with quite simple counter-attacking football. This is how many opponents have done it in recent years without Löw and now Flick successfully counteracting it.
Whether big tournaments or friendlies, the selection of the DFB gives the opponent too many big chances because the desire for dominance is sacrificed for the thought of security.
The belief that we are still on the right path is rooted in the German team. This was also made clear in Bremen by a statement by Benjamin Henrichs. The RB Leipzig professional said: “We’ll go into the break 1-0 if we don’t concede the goals.”