I'm not going to divulge into any introduction stating the rich history between the two nations, it makes this loss feel even worse when thinking about that. The scoreline at the end of 90 minutes was 2-1 to England. Now here is my view on why that happened.
First of all, the morale is tremendously low and it's not hard to see why. All the pre-match hullabaloo was about the off-pitch rift between experienced players Ballack, Frings, and manager Low and it effected everyone.
I personally think Low overreacted to both comments and didn't need to take the drastic steps he took.
When it comes down to the match, the first thing I remember saying when I saw the Germany team sheet was "What the Hell is Low thinking?!" Debutante Marvin Coomper at LB? He hasn't even played a minute at LB for Hoffenheim this season! Marcel Schafer or even Westermann at LB would have been a much better choice.
Then seeing Jermaine Jones in midfield with Simon Rolfes was frustrating. Low is starting to have a habit of playing two defensive midfielders whenever Ballack has been unavailable, which is a lot lately. That is something which has never worked out well for the Germans given their style of play.
Jermaine Jones, in my opinion, has never been Germany quality and was utterly poor the last time he donned a German shirt. This performance was no different. While Rolfes held his own pretty well, Jones was running around like a headless chicken mis-controlling every pass that came to him and never looking to do anything productive.
It wasn't a surprise then to see a much better German performance when Schweinsteiger moved to a more central position in the second half, something I've been stressing a lot lately.
The last of my worries from seeing the team sheet was the striking partnership of Klose and Gomez. It is never going to work. I said that before the Euros and wasn't proven wrong and I'm saying it again. Its not that either player is bad, its just that they cant combine with each other.
It might have had possibilities a few years ago with a younger and better playmaker, Klose, the one who provided 16 assists in the 05-06 season with his sublime one touch passing. But now he is a shadow of that player and seems out of his league when receiving the ball from more than 16 yards out.
The same with Gomez, he actually looks like an utter buffoon when the ball is at his feet outside the box. He more often then not mis-controls it and his passing makes Luca Toni look like Andrea Pirlo. He is a class finisher, with emphasis on finisher, he's a target man. But more often than not he received the ball 30 yards from goal with hardly any space. This brings me to my next point.
The tactics that Germany came out with were poor to say the least. Playing with Klose-Gomez upfront and Jones-Rolfes in midfield, one would expect a long ball game with the defence and deep lying midfield try to seek out the strikers with long passes.
No! Lets try and play quick short passing football. It was an utter disaster! I never quite knew what they were trying to accomplish while in possession. Yes England's midfield did a splendid job of closing down their opponents, but of course they will when Low plays two defensive midfielders in the centre and our two best playmakers on the wings.
Jones and Rolfes have never had the first touch Ballack has and therefore they were always going to struggle with the team expecting them to create offensive plays. They don't have those roles for club so why did Low expect that from them?
Whenever they received the ball they struggled to maintain possession and thus either lost the ball trying to play it forward or ended up passing back to the defence. Both Jones and Rolfes lacked any forward movement to trouble Barry and Carrick and thus made it a piece of cake to cover them.
It was when Schweini moved in the centre that Rolfes was allowed more space to seek out the forwards and wingers. Since, with a more attacking central midfielder, England's central midfield had to push back to try and restrict him.
With Klose and Gomez receiving passes at their feet with their back towards goal, there really isn't much they can do as it isn't either's strength. It was in that situation that they needed Helmes/Podolski to be able to run at the defence and cause havoc, just like they did when they came on.
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about 1 month ago
England where the better team, deserved the win.
about 1 month ago
Certainly wasn't the efficient Germany machine we are used to seeing. I think it was a case of Germany not playing, and England not allowing them to play. Certainly wasn't a performance worthy of the number 2 team in the world!
about 1 month ago
Agree 100% with the comment about the strikers: TWO TARGET MEN NEVER WORKS! Any functioning strike partnership requires at least 1 striker with playmaking qualities who can hold the ball up with competence. Target men are only as good as the service they're provided and unless you've got David Beckham in his hayday all over midfield providing chances on a silver platter, then you're doomed to fail with 2.
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