I thought that too, but Löw would never bench Kroos. Just move Kimmich to RB instead and let Kroos play.
Germany - Euro 2021 discussion
- Thread starter Blackwidow
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I don't really get the criticism of playing for possession. France was very negative yesterday. IMO the mistake was that we were not patient enough and crossed too early. If France don't want the ball, great, then let's exploit that and if we end the game with 80% possession, so be it.
You can't just change the playing style if you don't have the players for it. It is so clear to me that our best players belong into a possession system. The only reason Löe changed it was due to public pressure after 2018. If he thinks that this is the way to go then fine, go ahead, but be consequent then and don't play Gündogan, Kroos, Havertz and Hummels then but more physical players.
You can't just change the playing style if you don't have the players for it. It is so clear to me that our best players belong into a possession system. The only reason Löe changed it was due to public pressure after 2018. If he thinks that this is the way to go then fine, go ahead, but be consequent then and don't play Gündogan, Kroos, Havertz and Hummels then but more physical players.
I think France did just what they needed to. They had the game under control
Their plan since 2018 was to concede possession to anyone
Their plan since 2018 was to concede possession to anyone
Loew is obsessed with Pep's tactics. If France don't want possession just look for fouls 35 yards from their goal and recall Tarnat
Yeah, but if they want to play the waiting game, let them have it. I'm sure players like Mbappe or Pogba will become impatient or lose focus when they need to close down spaces 80% of the time. But if you gradually move the ball up the pitch and then whip the first cross in that's possible, it won't work. I prefer possession oriented football but wouldn't mind a high intensity and transition system either but whatever you do, don't to it half heartedly.
Is Gnabry likely to play tomorrow?
Schweinsteiger criticized Hummels for the own goal
Don’t mention that name in Portugal. Particularly in front of a goalkeeper.
Germany really should have canned Loew after the last World Cup. This is still a quality squad but they look out of ideas.
How did the reigning world champions get knocked out in the group stage of the next World Cup, and the manager survived with his job.
How did the reigning world champions get knocked out in the group stage of the next World Cup, and the manager survived with his job.
International coach for 16 years is not healthy.
I wonder if we will ever learn to not write of Germans in football.
Well I'm German and I still haven't learned that, even after 30 years that of watching our national team play.
Goosens with performance of the tournament
Toyed with Portugal today whose defence and midfield was pulled and moved all over the place. I don’t trust their defence but based on the games I’ve seen so far, I think they have been second most impressive after Italy.
Only team capable of playing "football" so far in the euros. Don't think anyone can touch them, not even close. And to think I didn't even remember they were in Euros before the tournament.
This is still true.
Portugal were pathetic and played right into Germany's strengths. I don't think this game says much, other than that the team showed a lot of determination.
Incredible how much space Gosens had on the left side.
I'm not sure how much to take from that. Portugal were as much to blame for their downfall as Germany.
Portugal played too deep and invited Germany on. I feel like they should have pressured the German defence more, which lacks pace (particularly, Hummels).
Not really sure why they haven't given Felix any minutes yet. Also, Sanches has been good both times he has come on.
Portugal played too deep and invited Germany on. I feel like they should have pressured the German defence more, which lacks pace (particularly, Hummels).
Not really sure why they haven't given Felix any minutes yet. Also, Sanches has been good both times he has come on.
Poor man's Denzel Dumfries.
People don't learn.
If Germany go through, I'm sure they will be a top contender along with France and Italy.
Today he was Godsens.
Germany is going to win the Euros, aren't they? Would be so typical German of them to make a comeback after their disastrous World Cup. They always find a way to come back to win. An interesting trivia on statistics. Germany's last World Cup win was 24 years apart, 1990 and 2014. Last time they won the European Cup was 1996...
So far it’s between the Germans and Belgium in terms of form to win the tournament , even against France Germany played quite well,
However France usually are quite slow to start tournaments from memory and with the quality they have in depth I just still can’t look past them overall, it’s quite sickening at the quality they have in there ranks and I can’t think of any other team in history to have so many world class players in every position more or less
However France usually are quite slow to start tournaments from memory and with the quality they have in depth I just still can’t look past them overall, it’s quite sickening at the quality they have in there ranks and I can’t think of any other team in history to have so many world class players in every position more or less
Germans have structural flaw against good counters. They don't have pace to cover up against good counters. So why they try to play three at the back to cover their cracks.
France exposed that with pacy wide forwards mbappe and greizman. Portugal too took the first goal with ease against them. They overcame from it today. Will be a big challenge for them as they progressed.
It is too easy to create chances against us. Maybe a fit Goretzka can help with defending better than Gundogan or Kroos and brings in some stability.
Don’t sleep on Italy
Didnt expect that from Germany today. What a performance.
Is that really true to that extent though? The defence seemed to be the worry going into the tournament, but against France sepcifically they controlled the majority of the match and while France had some dangerous counters, there weren't that many either. The deciding goal being a good counter but an unfortunate own goal. I think it's unrealistic to expect a team to completely nullify a team like France over 90 mins. Germany's problem was more that they couldn't create enough good chances.
This game against Portugal was a bit more open, so they did concede some chances and openings too. However their attacking had much more intent.
I think as long as they can continue improving their attacking cohesion in the following matches defensive weakness shouldn't be that big a problem. Can't really imagine many teams will be able to dominate midfield or possession generally against Germany. It's just a question of them turning that into quality chances.
I didn't say they are hopeless. They have structural issues and that's their main challenge to overcome. They don't have willing runners to press opposition to stop counters. Players like Pogba had time to pick the pass which broke their defense.
France also failed to capitalise promising positions though Germany wingbacks was bit reserved going forward against france compared to their average position against Portugal.
After two rounds Italy is the team most impressed with no flaws in their structure and had the players to execute their pressing game plan. They didn't allow opponents to get time on the ball through sytematic pressing and they rarely give up chances to score against.
They played like very well drilled club team and England too not far behind in maintaining structure. These two teams played well compare to other heavyweights in my opinion.
Wouldn't write off the Germans yet. They will improve as they go on.
I hope that Goretzka is fit to start again and we can switch to a back 4. That back 3 only suits 2 of our players (Rüdiger and Gosens).
Arguably it also suits Hummels, because he can defend more centrally and Kroos and Kimmich, because the third CB mitigates the effect from their shoddy defensive contribution. And Ginter actually isn't a bad fit for his hybrid role either, because he has some experience playing as RB.
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Yeah, i can see that. I would still prefer:
Neuer
Ginter Hummels Rüdiger Gosens
Kimmich Gotetzka
Sané Müller Gnabry
Havertz
I was one of those thinking Kroos should be dropped to allow the Munich duo to start in the middle but he's been amazing these past two games in my opinion.
Kroos is having an excellent tournament and Gündogan comes out of an exceptional season. Sané has been atrocious everytime he played in the last weeks and it surely won't get better with Ginter supporting him in attack.
Goretzka might make sense besides Kroos but Gündogan is just a much better footballer than him. Maybe moving Gündogan one line up could work so that he has more freedom for his runs into the box. But you can't really take Müller out either.
I'd probably stick with the current formation or run a system with inverted full backs so that Kimmich can move into the center and Gündogan can move up in possession.
Yep, he's been very good. He's not reserving himself to caressing the ball every now and then, but puts in a lot of work in midfield too.
Watch him on France's goal.
These heavyweights (Italy, England) also played teams of much lower quality and thus you can't really judge any "structural" questions based on just those two games or at least not compare it to Germany who already had to play vs two of the best attacks.
Though I also think that Germany will never look as "stable" as other teams because if it finally manages to find its groove it will look comparable to Flick's Bayern which has an inherently risky playstyle with a big reward if it works but can look fragile (hence the "high line" memes).
The problem with Gündogan is that he is simply redundant with Kroos on the pitch. He doesn't offer anything (for Germany) that Kroos doesn't have. In theory you'd think he'd be more of an offensive threat but he just isn't. That's why Goretzka would be a better fit for Kroos as partner. It'd be similar to Thiago/Goretzka in the CL last year or Kimmich/Goretzka at Bayern this year. Goretzka's dynamic playstyle and general hustle would also help to more effectively break up (counter)attacks while Gündogan has too often problems to recover in time in such situations.
We have enough players for our buildup that we really shouldn't require Gündogan on top of that. Imo it's just a question of whether or not Goretzka is already back at 100%.
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