Commentary: The Germans have flown away, emotions have subsided, the most controversial opinions have already been voiced. So let’s now take a look at what Germany did, what they didn’t do, what they can improve on and what they need to change to avoid the same debacle at Euro 2024.
Hansi Flick is one of the best coaches nationwide. Few other managers have achieved what he has at club level. Seven trophies in a year and a half in Monaco, and a good start to his career as head coach of the national team.
But now he probably takes most of the blame for his team’s failure. Of course, as a coach responsible for success and failure. However, his decisions have raised questions since his appointment.
Flick’s nomination for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
Flick surprised many with his nomination. During the group stage of the league, we heard several times how much of a surprise the appointment of Nicklas Füllkrug was. It’s true that just six months ago, few people would have bet on his participation in the World Cup.
However, he did so well in the fall portion of the season that combined with Germany’s general need for the position, many German fans expected his name to be on the roster.
The nominations of players like Julian Brandt, Lukas Klostermann or Karim Adeyemi have raised eyebrows (and pressure for some). Klostermann has played just 7% of minutes in the league this season, Adeyemi hasn’t scored or created a single goal since his move to Dortmund from RB Salzburg.
And while Brandt has gotten his team out of trouble a couple of times, those were also the only times fans recorded the 26-year-old attacking midfielder being on the pitch.
But every manager has their favourites, and the ethos of preparing for Euro 2024 has strongly permeated Germany’s selection: the appointment of Adeyemi or the surprising inclusion of Armel Bela-Kotchap or the place for Youssof Moukoko bear this out.
Paradoxically, the return of Mario Götze, already thirty, or the invitation for Freiburg’s 30-year-old left-back Christian Günter also seems paradoxical. So if Flick’s appointment was to be seen as a general for his home European Championship, the selection seemed rather vague from the outset. It’s as if the manager and his team don’t know which approach to prioritize and therefore are left halfway.
Especially if we integrate it with the hypothesis that Flick should have tried to convince Toni Kroos to return to the national team. However, he also replaced Mats Hummels, who was playing in good form, with younger but unprofiled alternatives.
Midfield not very strong, Arnold again without the possibility of playing as a midfielder
It was in midfield that Flick’s selection looked very vulnerable. He only brought the trio of Kimmich, Goretzka and Gündogan with him to Qatar. Furthermore, the reason is not, as in England, the lack of players in this position. It would be highly recommended to finally give the 28-year-old Wolfsburg captain Maximilian Arnold a real chance.
He has already spoken for the server in the past Bulinewsprecisely in view of the fact that he does not understand why he was not nominated for the qualifying matches of the national team for this year’s World Cup even after Hansi Flick took over the national team from Joachim Löw.
He obviously didn’t like this experienced midfielder and never gave him another chance after his debut in 2014. Arnold finally got his chance under Flick later in qualifying and marked his second and third starts in the German shirt , but was again excluded from the tournament despite the larger line-up.
Flick’s choice to start eleven
There was already something to talk about and ask before the tournament. But Flick wasn’t helped by his selection of eleven for the match either. The composition of the squad for the first match against Japan probably didn’t surprise anyone too much. With minor variations, Flick’s chosen composition was expected. And the uncertainty that accompanied these expectations turned out to be well founded.
Nico Schlotterbeck has confirmed his unfortunate form this season. Both Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer looked like players who didn’t play much in the fall, and above all they were recovering their health for the big tournament.
Havertz didn’t work in attack, Musiala pushed on the wing by Müller didn’t have the freedom he needed. At the other end, Serge Gnabry was alone, as Niklas Süle, who played at right-back, was instructed to stay in defense and thus form a trio of stoppers.
Perhaps it seems paradoxical for the almost two-meter-tall walking rock, Süle, both in Bayern and Dortmund, occupied the position of right-back, where he started more and more often, very attacking. But not when he was center forward for most of his youth career. Flick’s choice paid for his mistakes in the first leg.
Matches with Spain and Costa Rica
However, he failed to learn his lesson and left Gnabry equally isolated for the tough game against Spain, only for Süle to be replaced by Kehrer behind him, while the Dortmund defender replaced his teammate Schlotterbeck at the center of defence.
Havertz was then replaced at the striker not by Füllkrug as a typical number nine, but by Thomas Müller, who proved to be even more toothless than Havertz in the previous meeting.
It was ‘Fülle’ who kept Germany’s hopes alive with his goal after coming on as a substitute. However, even that wasn’t enough for a place in the starting lineup for the final match against Costa Rica, as Flick continued his move to “destroy” Müller’s legacy as one of the top goalscorers in World Cup history , isolating it again alone at the tip.
In the end it was enough to win thanks to goals from the substitutes, but not to pass. Furthermore, Flick was forced to move his best midfielder to right-back, admitting defeat that he has yet to find a fix for this position.
The suffering of the Germans in the end, as the metrics say?
However, not everything is so pessimistic from the point of view of the German selection, as Flick’s shortcomings in the formation of the lineup, which, after all, were already evident at Bayern. This eventually led to his conflict with sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić.
However, Germany managed to create many chances. Specifically, a chance worth 10.1 xG. Coupled with an xGA and thus an expected goals conceded value of 3.2, the Germans should have won every game with two goals. The only one who could come close to them on the xG ladder in the group stage was France with a 7.2 rating.
We can see from this that Germany struggled especially in the endgame. They converted just six chances, on the other hand, they allowed their opponents to score two more goals than they should have by metrics. Individual mistakes and unconvincing performance by goalkeeper Neuer, which Flick, like Müller on the other side, refused to seat in favor of younger supports.
Well, the inefficiency in front of the opponent’s goal is just another factor that has sent the Germans home as much as the poor formation composition.
Will the Germans solve their problems in the future?
But these are problems that should be easy to fix in the future. We can already find a successor to goalkeeper Neur on the bench in the person of Ter Stegen, who is six years younger, while the problem can ultimately be solved by any reliable striker, as we can see on the example of Bayern and Choupo -Moto.
Also, teenage Moukoko can perhaps grow into that role. She will still only be 19 at the Euros, so should it be too soon for him, Wolfsburg’s Füllkrug or perhaps Nmecha can offer more support to the higher caliber stars as traditional strikers.
Jamal Musiala is becoming one of the best players in the world, who as one of the few of this selection can start with his head held high, even though he himself should have been more effective in the end. His goal move, 3 great chances created in each match or maybe 6 dribbles in the same unit of time will be missed by many fans in the knockout stages.
Backed by Leroy Sané, who has shown that he can make the difference following his recovery from injury, but also by Florian Wirtz, who is still recovering, Germany’s attack can bite even with “simply” a “second division” striker at the helm.
The entire generation around Kimmich, Goreztka and Sané will still be under thirty at the home European Championship, the coaching staff will have more time to define the final composition of the defence. Until then, players like Baku or Henrichs will have room to convince the coach that they are the ones to relieve him of the migraine from the right-back position.
Bella-Kotchap can become a stable pillar of the team and Schlotterbeck will hopefully regain his lost form in the national team.
Germany made many mistakes during the tournament. But it’s not hard to name them, and therefore it shouldn’t be hard to fix most of them. Also, other stats indicate they weren’t all bad in their performance. It doesn’t take much to make everything fit together and the Germans, after three failed championships, are once again acting as a really strong team on the field of international football.
Resources: Bulinews, Transfermarkt, Twitter – John Müller, MS 2022 against Kataru
