Five Conclusions from Germany 6-2 Austria

September 3rd, 2011 | by: Jan | Comments Off

That goal by Götze and the following shot of Löw with the crowd in the background sums it all up. But here are some quick post match thoughts nonetheless.

Christian Gratzel had a bad game. Before showering the German team with praise, it should be said that two and a half of Germany’s six goals were gifts from the Austrian goalkeeper. A better goalkeeper could have stolen the ball from Özil’s feet for the second goal and would have properly covered the near post for the third and fourth goal – the fourth goal was a deflection, but still. In general, the performance of the Austrian team didn’t come close to their gritty, gutsy display in Vienna. Their coach seems to be a lame duck and chances to qualify purely hypothetical, which didn’t help their game either. But now to the good part.

Germany had a great game. Another great game. A lot of the praise from the Brazil friendly could be copied and pasted into this post. But to repeat: Germany looks much improved in possession and when chasing the ball, while maintaining most of the pace and directness of the counter-attacking football from last year’s World Cup. Spain may yet be more elegant and accomplished in that respect, but at least Germany manages to keep the ball without passing the fans and followers to sleep. Brazil was a good test, but it was against a team in transition. It’s time for a proper challenge, which will be served in November when our neighbors and currently the #1 team in the world pays a visit.

Mesut Özil and Thomas Müller were devastating. The two combined scored and assisted three goals – the referee somehow decided to award the first goal to Klose for his 62nd international goal, but it was an Özil hat-trick for everybody else. Basically the two just need to make sure to stay healthy and keep their current form and we’ll have little to worry going into Euro 2012. Then again, with players like Götze and Reus waiting on the bench and with Holtby and Draxler waiting in the U21, we would have little to worry going into Euro 2012 even if Özil and Müller were out injured. Our current level of depth is quite reassuring. And while he is still a bit hesitant, it’s also reassuring that Löw doesn’t rule out playing Götze alongside Özil, even though he sees both players primarily in the center.

Miroslav Klose delivered a blue print performance for whoever will succeed him. Minus scoring some goals. But the way he was integrated into Germany’s attacks and how he exchanged passes with other players was exemplary. Quite a bit different style of play compared to the lone marksman whose job is to bang in the goals from perfectly timed deliveries. I like the suggestions from the comments, that Andre Schürrle might be a player, who could fill that role better than someone like Gomez.

Germany are dominant in midfield and attack but careless at the back. When you are playing and winning so convincingly, conceding the odd consolation goal isn’t the end of the world. Yet, it would be a good exercise for the whole team to keep the concentration levels up for the whole 90 minutes for a change. And as many of you already pointed out in the comments: not a particularly good game by our biographer and captain. If Lahm decides to continue to be mediocre, then he really should be mediocre on the right and give Aogo or Schmelzer a chance to have a career in the national team. They’ll surely thank him when they write their books. It’s also a sad sight to see how every half decent German central defender / defensive midfielder has to waste his talent on the right wing just to suit Lahm’s preferences.