What happened to Germany?

More accurately, what the hell happened to Germany?!  Germany’s early exit at the World Cup was the sole inspiration for the creation of this website!  The shortcomings of Die Mannschaft were clear to see, yet somehow they occurred.  In the wake of the devastation fans and pundits alike have called for Joachim Low’s head, and although he has certainly proven himself a formidable leader over the last decade in charge, they might be right.

The failings

There were two areas where Germany failed, one in which Low must accept blame, and the second perhaps just an unfortunate consequence of not being able to execute the tactical game they had set out to play.

We will start with Low’s responsibility in the recent exit from the group stages.  After two losses and only a single last gasp win against Sweden, one will have to question Louw’s loyalty to his senior players.  As someone who values loyalty to the utmost it is difficult to blame Joachim Low for his decision to start a core of experienced players, but before the tournament even began there were questions over the team selection.  Leaving Leroy Sane out of the squad was more than a questionable decision, in fact Leroy Sane should have started for Germany!  Eight years ago at the 2010 World Cup Joachim Low started a youthful team including Mesut Ozil, Thomas Mueller, and Sami Khediera; young, fearless, free flowing players in the same mould of Leroy Sane in 2018.  Why Sane was left out of the squad is somewhat unclear, but loyalty to senior players and the Bundesliga appear to have played a part.  As Mesut Ozil and Thomas Mueller started two of the 2018 group stage games, there are few who felt that they had earned those positions based on their recent club form.  As for Manuel Neuer, who granted is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world and I realize what I’m about to say may be considered blasphemous, but he hardly played club football for the entire 2017/18 season and had only just returned from injury when the World Cup began and walked straight into the starting position.  Neuer’s performanace’s weren’t to  blame for Germany’s demise, but it is a stark example of Low’s loyalty to his favoured players.

Tactical failures

Yet there was also a glaring tactical failure contributing to Germany’s loss against the not so super power footballing nations of Mexico and South Korea.  Although Germany were the dominant team in all three of their group stage games, they were frustrated by an inability to put the ball in the net.  In the three games combined they maintained 72% of ball possession, had a pass accuracy of 89% compared to their opponents 71% as well as having more than twice as many shots on goal at 24 compared to 11.  But they struggled to score.  So where did it go wrong?  Germany lost on the counter attack.  In 2010 Germany showed the world how to counter attack, and in 2018 it is how they lost.  For all their calculated build up play and possession, the transition from midfield to forwards was missing.  Timo Werner’s main attribute is his speed as he loves to run in behind the defence, but he was rarely provided this type of service.  And for all of Mesut Ozil’s criticism, both for the national team and at Arsenal, he is best running at the defence and placing the perfect through ball, not playing in front of a parked bus.  Mesut Ozil showed this quality at the 2010 World Cup where he exploded onto the scene, marauding forward with the likes of Thomas Mueller and gang striking fear into opposition defences with the lighting counters.  As for all the critics claiming that Mesut Ozil “doesn’t show up” for the big games, it is predictable in which games he will struggle.  He wants to run at the defence with his forwards ahead of him and everyone moving around him.  With the stagnant forward line more often seen with build up play, his talents often go missing.  Low played the Guordiola brand of tiki-taka football, but Werner is not the central target man who will thrive with this play either.  One can understand not wanting to start Mario Gomez, although his style of play would perhaps have complemented Louw’s tactical choices better.  It is with this 20/20 hindsight that we can see how Germany succeeded with the false 9 at the 2014 World Cup and fell short in 2018.

But how could Germany lose?

Regardless it is still surprising that Germany could not find their way through to the knockout stages.  With a team bursting with individual talent, statistics of 72% possession and outshooting their opponents more than 2 to 1, one has to say that Germany was unlucky!  For at the end of the day the only statistic that matters is goals scored, and in their three group stage games they could only muster two.  And for this they have paid the ultimate price.  As for Germany they will almost certainly be back for the 2020 Euros, but we will have to wait and see if Joachim Low remains at the helm.