I mean Henrichs by the time of the of the 2019 tournament had played more league minutes at CL clubs than Raum has amassed for Fürth and about a dozen CL games on top. Is Henrichs a top player? Not really. But it's a bit disingenuous to call him a constant disappointment, when were comparing him to a 2nd division player. And I know Raum had a couple of good moments in this tournament, he doesn't stand out as a weakness and he seems to have a great left foot and he may just be a late bloomer, but it still says a lot about the level of talent, that where there used to be a promising top four club talent and Mittelstädt as his backup, there is now only Fürth's LB.The comparison of Raum and Henrichs is exactly what I mean. You look at the name/status instead of actual performances. Raum has been excellent in the 2nd BL as FB and has been very good for the u21 so far while Henrichs constantly disappoints and was at best average for the u21. You write he plays for CL level teams but the reality is that he hardly plays and still relies on his reputation as great talent.
In regards to the other positions... the attack this time is clearly stronger / a lot better infront of the goal and while Tah was/is a great talent on paper he is another one who couldn't really show it in the u21.
Don't get me wrong, the differences aren't huge in these comparisons but the team in this tournament has the right balance and except GK has at minimum solid options everywhere and no glaring weaknesses.
I also think (and this is obviously just an opinion) that this team has a better mentality, partly because there are many players who had to work their way to this level instead of relying on hype as talents. That's why I think this one might produce some surprises in the future.
It will be interesting to see Raum with Hoffenheim in the BL next season and I'm also curious what Nmecha and Dorsch will do next.
Tah is a somewhat similar case to Henrichs: relative to how he started out his development has been disappointing, but he still rolled up to the u21 team with probably 150 games played for Leverkusen and some senior caps on his CV. At night Amos Pieper dreams of being able to say that about himself when he's retiring.
The team right now is on 8 goals scored, last tournament it was 14 goal scored after the semi final, so it's a bit ambitious to state the attack is clearly stronger this time around.
I agree that the team shows a very good mentality, balance, organization, whatever you want to call these soft factors. I really applaud their effort. But this isn't the early 2000s, a German team should not have to rely on being solid and having good mentality to this extend anymore. I know these numbers aren't facts, but the market value of the current squad is €153m, two years before it was €314m and that kind of says it all..