Yet another match in which Germany dominates for 90 minutes yet is still frantically attacking in the dying minutes to rescue a win. In what was hoped to be a comfortable win for Die Mannschaft, individual performances once again held back an elite crop of players from a result matching the expectations of the German national team. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann has some serious questions to answer after this international break.
Joshua Kimmich is no longer an elite player
The Bayern Munich veteran has really spoiled a strong fan support prior to this season. In the last few months, Kimmich has been an absolute shell of his former self and evidently so today. Whether he is struggling with an injury or simply no longer performing at the top level, Kimmich is no longer the same player. While some have Kimmich as the Man of the Match in today’s game, not all share that same sentiment.
This game told a lot about Germany’s best talent
Once again, there were several polarizing individual performances. Alongside Kimmich and Josha Vagnoman who struggled at right-back, Pascal Groß and Leon Goretzka had particularly poor showings, demonstrating why Anton Stach, Aleksandar Pavlović, and Felix Nmecha should be the faces of this midfield moving forward.
In a game with many offensive chances yet few goals, there continues to be reason to lean on a true and trusted nine such as Denis Undav or Tim Kleindienst. Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade were fine, but still left goals on the table. As for Chris Führich, this is yet another case of playing a particular player for the home crowd, rather than performance. Führich is simply not at the level of the national team.
Germany can’t hold onto a lead
The defensive line had another frustrating performance. While mostly solid, there were glimpses of disaster that led to opposition goals once again. While Nico Schlotterbeck and Kimmich were to blame against Switzerland, this time it was Josha Vagnoman, who was probably only introduced as a fan service to the Stuttgart crowd.
Vagnoman didn’t deserve a callup and he certainly didn’t deserve match time. The right-back position for Germany is in shambles at the moment.
Major adjustments still needed
While Nagelsmann made the right call by excluding Goretzka and Leroy Sané from the starting lineup, there are still plenty of issues to solve ahead of this summer’s tournament. Does Germany have enough talent to make a deep run at the World Cup? Yes. Will Julian Nagelsmann not only nominate the correct players but field a strong XI in each match? That’s a whole other question and quite frankly he hasn’t nailed it yet since the EUROs.
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