analysis
The German national team shows a game in England 3: 3, after which national coach Hansi Flick’s head should be buzzing.
The sellers with the so-called game scarves still had their hands full shortly before midnight at the “Wembley Park” underground station. The discount didn’t help, and even the game, which was quite spectacular in the second half, didn’t boost sales anymore.
It was just a duel in the Nations League and there was nothing more at stake for either team in this competition. England had previously been relegated to Division B, Germany with no chance of winning the group.
Mixture of pressure and drowsiness
Labeled as a ‘classic’ game, the appeal of the game lay in the fact that both teams were aiming to compete for the title at the World Cup in less than two months. It was important, especially after the 1-0 defeats suffered a few days before, to gain insights – preferably positive ones. Both teams succeeded. However, it was such a mix of positive and negative insights that the trainers in particular should be banging their heads.
National coach Hansi Flick now knows that the German team puts the opponent under pressure in some phases, only to let the opponent do it in other, sleepy moments. He also knows that his team can move forward quickly and run with many players, even crowned by a wonderful flick like that of Kai Havertz to make it 2-0.
Performances of the DFB-Elf fluctuate
He also knows that order can quickly be lost on the defensive, as well as orientation. Ultimately, the realization that he knew this beforehand, just as he knew about the weakness, against a team that largely leaves the ball to him and lurks for ball wins and counterattacks, only has too few chances in the penalty area.
“I generally think positively”said Flick on Monday (September 26, 2022) after the game at Wembley Stadium, expressing the hope that the strengths would be maintained until the tournament in Qatar and the weaknesses eliminated.
Europe’s major football nations are weakening
But it has only worked ideally in the phases of some games in the past few months. The performance of the German elite selection was too fluctuating, otherwise the record would be better: Germany has only won two of the last ten competitive games (at EURO 2020 against Portugal and in the Nations League against Italy), and only one of the last seven international games – just that against European champions Italy, who did not qualify for the World Cup but have now reached the finals of the Nations League as group winners.
Each of the supposedly great soccer nations from Europe has its problems, and this is also the reason for Germany’s hope of getting far at the World Cup.
No goal in the first half
In England it was also the case that the DFB selection led 2-0 in the middle of the second half, even though they hadn’t managed to score a goal in the opponent’s penalty area before the break. This was also due to the fact that this room was far too rarely filled with players in white and black jerseys. Havertz only became dangerous after the break. And then at 3:3, the Englishman’s second gift, even in the center forward position, which he had vacated for Timo Werner in the second half in order to move back one position.
Werner showed his well-known weakness in the end, but also his strengths in counterplay and in the runs with which he lures opponents out of order and thus creates space.
Adventurous residual defense
The German game is also a game of compromises a good two months before the first game at the World Cup against Japan. Thilo Kehrer, who is moderate on the defensive and moderate on the offensive by international comparison, played in the back right. David Raum, who made many tactical mistakes on the defensive when moving out and in positional play, played on the left back. Nico Schlotterbeck caused another penalty in the national jersey, the staggering of the entire so-called remaining defense – i.e. the German players who were closer to their own goal than the ball in English counterattacks – was sometimes adventurous.
However, the national coach was particularly annoyed by the phase between the 72nd and 83rd minutes, in which England scored their three goals. They came from a phase of pressure from the hosts, in which the German back four – especially in the two outer positions – was abandoned by their colleagues. “This must not happen”, Flick complained, knowing that this had happened before.