Analysis
from
Stefan Rommel
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Julian Nagelsmann is trying to give the national team a fresh start with courage and new ideas, but is also faced with old problems. However, the debut of the new national team coach gives hope.

The first event of the evening was Julian Nagelsmann with your wardrobe. The new coach of the national team debuted as a lumberjack and demonstrated the courage that his team would later show.

Germany’s 3-1 win over the United States was a successful opening night for Nagelsmann, designed to provide momentum and confidence for the challenges ahead without ignoring the obvious challenges.

After just four days of training in far-flung Hartford, the team’s performance was impressive in many ways, bringing the vigor and aggressiveness required by the new coach to the field, and ultimately producing a positive result that was at least as urgently needed.

Under Nagelsmann’s leadership, the DFB team showed progress in almost all areas.

The DFB selection has shown great progress in almost all areas and Nagelsmann said he may be able to get the team on the right track in the short time before next summer’s European Championships. If the team’s learning pace remains as fast as it has been in the last few days.

But what has actually changed since Nagelsmann’s predecessor? Hansi Flick? What’s particularly encouraging? In what areas are there still problems? Analysis.

Tactics:

The main goal of the first two Test matches against the USA and a few days later against Mexico is to establish the initial basic structure. The national team coach has emphasized this again and again in the past few days. And Nagelsmann more than partially succeeded.

The German team played in a fairly flexible basic formation, in possession of the ball in a 3-4-3 formation, and against the ball with a chain of four men in the last line in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Nagelsmann’s idea of ​​an asymmetrical structure of the game was as striking as it was interesting.

Being a right back Jonathan Tah in a line with two central defenders Mats Hummels and Antonio Rüdiger moved, Robin Gosens moved up the left flank into midfield. In a deep attack, Germany kept the gap very small thanks to two closely linked sixes in Pascal Gross and Ilkay Gundogan, then came to the fore with short breaks or cool relays through the middle.

On the wings follows Goshen And Leroy Sane were sent into one-on-one duels, and that’s when the first problem became apparent: without fullback movement on both sides, there was no way to get behind to get the necessary depth on the flanks. It was always dangerous when Sane moved from outside to inside with the ball at his feet or when Germany combined through the middle with just a few touches.

The structure of the ball was also clearly visible in the background – although there was still a huge problem with the implementation. Nagelsmann opted for an aggressive attacking press with a clear man-orientation, which allowed the back line to advance into the opposition’s half of the game.

If a player failed to press or was a step too late, the space in front of the center backs opened up, leaving the United States with their fast strikers too much space and time to make clever attacks. There were similar problems in counterpressing, which the USA quickly outplayed two or three times and found themselves dangerously in front of the German goal.

These were wild, hectic runs of the game, very reminiscent of games of the recent past. But: Nagelsmann is unlikely to abandon this risky method, since, in his opinion, the chances of winning the ball early outweigh the risks in the remaining defense. And this orientation also better suits the character of the team.

Employees:

Nagelsmann refrained from any serious experiments, other than returning Hummels to the center of defense and Gross to the sixth side. Gundogan may not have been expected by all observers.

Hummels had a “very special moment” when he returned to the team after about two years, “with more nervousness than I thought. But I liked it, it was very useful.”

As announced, the national team coach allowed Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala to play in the center, Stuttgart’s Chris Furich became the first debutant under Nagelsmann’s leadership, and Thomas Müller also received some minutes in the end.

Initially, the team did not have a place for Niklas Sule and Leon Goretzka, two other newcomers Kevin Behrens and Robert Andrich hope to make their debut for the national team in the match against Mexico.

Coaching:

One of the major criticisms of Hansi Flick in his final stages as national coach was the management of the game’s coaching. In other words, the ability to respond to unfavorable game developments with appropriate measures and give the team new impulses from the outside. After a rather turbulent and hectic first half, Nagelsmann handled it almost perfectly, making several adjustments in the second 45 minutes.

“In the first half, the opponents had more space to break the chain or run behind us,” Hummels said after the game on RTL. “Then we made adjustments so that the space wasn’t so big anymore. And we were much more confident in possession of the ball in the second half and no longer created such situations for them to counterattack.”

The coach himself also saw his own possession of the ball as the key to his team’s significant improvement and more compact defensive play. “In the first half I had the feeling that we wanted to decide the game too early. We took too many risks and therefore lost too many balls. In the second half we had more patience, so we were in good positions and had more control. That was the difference.”

Stability:

In many past games, a missed goal meant at least a break in the German game, and sometimes even a failure of all systems. Overall, the team very steadily overcame the gap to the Americans and even managed to turn around completely.

With a certain calm and composure, and perhaps also confidence in their (offensive) abilities, the German team quickly got back on track and showed long-missing wit and goal threat. “We were convincing in terms of football and did not miss the victory,” Nagelsmann said. “We have taken a step forward in terms of football!”

Construction sites:

“We haven’t always had as many opportunities and we still need to improve a little individually,” the national team coach said, pointing out one or two weaknesses himself.

The German national team essentially needs more control over its opponents again. Stages such as the first half, with frantic play from box to box and virtually no midfield, are counterproductive; the difficulties in the rest of the defense are no coincidence.

The question remains whether the staff matches the idea of ​​the game. Are faster defenders needed for counterattacks? And when will the team be able to keep a clean sheet again? Nagelsmann also failed to close the defense, allowing at least one goal for the seventh time in a row.

The approaches are designed to capitalize on the team’s high individual qualities and allow players to develop better in better positions. But this still requires some time – and for Nagelsmann and his team this is very little.

Source used:

  • sport1.de: “Crazy!”: special praise for Nagelsmann


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