Most of the Bayern Munich representatives made their appearances with Germany. However, Joachim Low’s side were anything but themselves against Mexico. Here are five things the Germans should change to right the ship.
More responsible tracking in defense
Joachim Low’s men looked dreadful against Mexico, simply put. The reigning world champions played like anything but that. There were a multitude of issues that can be pointed out. Those range from personnel changes to changes in tactics.
However, one of the most glaring issues for Germany on the day was was their defensive approach to the game. Germany held the lion’s share of possession, but were absolutely vulnerable when transitioning to defense. Counter-attacks proved were Die Mannschaft’s Achilles’ heel.
First off, there will be no major personnel changes in the back line with the exception of adding Jonas Hector back in to the left-back slot (and now the possibility of Niklas Sule or Antonio Rudiger replacing Mats Hummels). The real adjustments come in with the tactical approach to how the back four defend. During the match against Mexico, the center-back pairing of Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels looked lack for composure.
They both mistimed tackles and gave away needless fouls to the Mexican side. However one of the biggest offenses came in a counter-attack that led to Mexico’s goal. Instead of trying to hold up the play to allow numbers to drop, Hummels dove in far too early on a challenge that gave way to Lozano coming in on goal. This left Hummels out of the play and one less German defending the counter.
Faster back-tracking from the full-backs
This goes hand-in-hand with the need for Germany to change their approach to defending. It is evident that one of the main aspects of Germany’s play is for their full-backs to provide additional width in attack. But that doesn’t excuse them from any defending. There’s no reason for both Marvin Plattenhardt and Joshua Kimmich to be at both opposition corner flags at the same time. This leaves just two defenders back vulnerable to a counter-attack.
On top of that, it leaves the slower-paced Toni Kroos and aging Sami Khedira (more on that later) left “shielding” the defense. When one of Kimmich or — in this case — Hector, is providing additional width, the opposite full-back should sit further back with the defense.
Speaking of Kimmich in particular, the young Bayern Munich star needs to improve his one-on-one defending and must track back a bit earlier to help his side avoid vulnerability to counters.
Stronger defensive-midfield presence
The midfield is one of the places where there will need to be changes in personnel. Coming back to an earlier point, Sami Khedira was, unfortunately, one of the biggest offenders in Germany’s loss to Mexico.
The aging midfielder looked slow and lacked any sense of tenacity. Given that Khedira was playing in a defensive-midfield role meant to complement Kroos’ metronomic play style, this hurt Germany’s defensive performance. Khedira did a poor job of filling in for the full-backs in defense while either of them were giving width.
A potential solution to this problem could be to replace Khedira with future Bayern Munich man Leon Goretzka. The youngster has a tenacious attitude to his play, as well as a tireless engine. While a more box-to-box central midfielder, his work rate shows that he can do business in defense as well. Another option could be Sebastian Rudy if Low wants a straight up defensive-midfielder.
More dynamic play on the wings
Another area where Germany will need another big injection of creativity is on the wings. Unfortunately, Thomas Muller was nowhere near his best against Mexico. The Bayern Munich vice-captain is clearly not a traditional winger, but he usually is able to make up for it with his Raumdeuter abilities.
A simple ask for this is to get Muller to emphasize his play on his ability to pick out pockets of space. However, a personnel shift of moving Muller into Mesut Ozil’s central spot and starting Julian Draxler at right-midfield instead could also prove useful. Muller feels at his productive best playing in a center-attacking-midfield role.
The next major change is to have Marco Reus in from the start. The Borussia Dortmund winger can provide an amplification of pace down the left flank. This will allow Germany to provide varied attacks going down the left and right flanks, without becoming overly predictable by overloading any one side more than the other.
More hold up play from the striker
This last point and tactic largely depends on the type of forward Germany use against Sweden. Timo Werner unfortunately went missing during the match against Mexico. The young RB Leipzig striker hardly got on the ball, nor could he meaningfully hold on to possession of it.
One noticeable aspect of Germany’s game is there insistence on utilizing crosses. As we know, this aspect of play was toothless in their World Cup opener. A large part of this could be attributed to Timo Werner not being a target man.
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If Germany try to stray away from an over reliance on crosses, then Werner simply needs to up his hold-up play. However, if Germany insist on crossing being a key part of their play in the penalty box, then Mario Gomez is the better choice.