Five Conclusions From Ukraine 3-3 Germany

November 12th, 2011 | by: Jan | Comments Off

That was a fun and fragile experiment. Jogi Löw said, he wanted to experiment with a formation he could use in certain situations. May it be in case, Germany need to chase a game or are down to ten men or whatever. What is certainly very useful is the numerical advantage in midfield. As long as Germany could keep the ball or win the ball back in the oppositions half everything was fine. In fact, it was a very dominant performance in that case and Germany did create a lot of chances. Yet, at least on that night, Germany were exposed to so many quick counter attacks, that you can question the overall usefulness – at least at this point – of such a both dominant but also risky strategy. But it was certainly fun to watch. Yet, I guess it makes more sense to stick to 4-1-4-1 against the Netherlands – and against most other team – for the time being.

Goetzilla isn’t yet a very scary monster. There wasn’t much you could really say about the compatibility of the two on the pitch. The overall tactical changes were just too big, to evaluate the two beyond their individual skill level, that was on show in glimpses on Friday. Maybe we’ll get the chance to see both in Germany’s standard formation and get a better idea.

Zieler went through 45 minutes to forget, and 45 minutes to remember. 45 minutes into your first match for the national team and you are 3-0 down. The last time that happened to a Germany goalkeeper was during a World Cup 1954 group stage match (against Hungary). And that was deliberately lost by Germany. And there wasn’t really anything Zieler could do about it. Luckily for him, Germany didn’t just salvage a draw in the second half, but the back line kept being so unorganized, that Zieler had the opportunity to make two top class saves, to keep Germany in the game. Overall a promising debut actually.

Moving Aogo and Träsch up into midfield didn’t work at all. Christian Träsch had a night to forget anyway. Dennis Aogo looked pretty good going forward actually, but completely forgot about defensive responsibilities. Aogo missed a chance to move himself into position as the #1 Lahm backup. Then, again, the new tactical lineup makes it all rather difficult to really put too much blame on the performances of some players.

Toni Kroos made the best of Schweinsteiger’s absence. While the team would have certainly benefitted from Schweinsteiger’s presence and experience, it was the youngest starting eleven Löw ever fielded, Toni Kroos nonetheless ceased the opportunity to advertise himself as a certain starter for Euro 2012. He really only just keeps backing up the past four years of advance praise.