Film Focus: Breaking Down How Germany Silenced England in 1-0 Friendly Defeat

England's nickname might be that of the Three Lions, but for the second match in as many weeks, they failed to produce any real bite on the international stage—going down 1-0 in front of a packed Wembley crowd to a Germany team without many of their regular first-team players taking the field.

That's not to say that Roy Hodgson's men were poor, per se.

For the most part, they handled themselves well against one of the favourites for the 2014 World Cup and held good patches of possession and territory on the night.

But when it came to the final pass or shot, England simply didn't have an answer.

They finished the night without a single shot on target (though they did hit the post through an Andros Townsend effort and also came close through Steven Gerrard) and never quite mustered the attacking potency required inside the final third.

It might have been listed as an international friendly on paper, but with a number of regular first-team players taking part on the night, it's certainly still a match that both teams will take plenty away from.

Let's break down the film and pick a few key points worth mentioning.

England Need to Improve on their Pressing Game

While England did hold possession for large portions of the match, particularly in the first half, the Germans were able to establish control in the middle of the field quite comfortably. And that's without several of their "better" players being on the field!

The biggest reason for this wasn't the absence of Frank Lampard from his regista-position, but rather the lack of pressure that England applied from their defense.

Too often they allowed Germany to work the ball out of their own half without any real pressure and didn't force the Bender brothers into making very complicated passes. They allowed their midfielders to take overs by sitting very deep in defense, and this allowed Germany to transition from being under pressure at the back to in control in the middle with very little effort.

On paper, England were lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, but the reality was that with Wayne Rooney dropping back in his No. 10 role, it was more of a 4-4-1-1.

In a 4-4-1-1, the wingers must be very active in defense—pressing up on to their opposite defenders and not allowing them time to run forward—yet neither Adam Lallana or Townsend did this. They held a very flat line in line with both Gerrard and Tom Cleverley, and this allowed both Heiko Westermann and Marcel Schmelzer plenty of time to press forward into the space ahead of them.

The image above shows the space between (and ahead of) Rooney and Lallana.

Just a few minutes later, we can see how this transpired on the other side of the field. England's back-four and midfield are very flat together (showing that it certainly wasn't a 4-2-3-1 formation from Hodgson to begin with) and Townsend is too slow to press up on Schmelzer. In turn, that makes him very isolated on the right hand side of the defense and allows Lars Bender plenty of time to pick a pass out wide—or even run at the Tottenham Hotspur man if he desired.

If England are going to persist with a 4-4-2 formation (or even a 4-4-1-1) at the World Cup next year, their wide men need to be far more active in pushing up field.

The same also goes for Rooney—recognising what impact his movement has and defending out wider rather than just in the area behind Daniel Sturridge.

However, the biggest killer for England on the night wasn't their lack of pressure from their wide men or Rooney but rather their central midfield combination of Cleverley and Gerrard. Neither proved to be the tackling, all-conquering force that Lampard and Michael Carrick have proven to be over the years, and it certainly showed as Germany were able to pick apart their defense with relative simplicity.

In the 37th minute, Per Mertesacker headed the Germans ahead with a wonderful goal that will simply be put down to a good finish from the tallest man on the pitch.

However, it's worth noting how Germany were able to get that far down the pitch in the first place, with the answer a distinct lack of pressure through the middle.

Bender picks up the ball off a turnover and heads out to the right. Rooney, Lallana, Townsend and to a lesser extent, Cleverley are all in the vicinity to make a play and pressure him into playing a quick pass, but none are forthcoming.

Instead, Bender has a mountain of time to make which ever pass he desires, with a number of options presented to him right across the field.

He drifts right and lays the ball off to Mertesacker, who fires a quick pass up field about 20 yards to Mario Goetze, who has managed to get between the lines.

Look at the five England players that it gets through.

All marking "space," but none are applying in pressure on the ball carrier in Mertesacker, his outlet in Goetze or the channel between them for the pass to go in.

Goetze gets the ball and flicks it on quickly to Bender. England's midfield four are now stuck in a flat line up field, and this forces Phil Jagielka to press up out of the defensive line and try and pick up Bender, who receives the quick pass from Gotze and is streaking away to goal.

In turn, this forces Chris Smalling into a tough position. Does he try to cover Bender (who is seemingly in behind Jagielka), does he run back in a straight line and try and cut off either the runner or a cross at the near post, or does he try and pick up Marco Reus, who is now past Kyle Walker?

And how does he do that without leaving Max Kruse unmarked in the middle?

In the end, Bender's touch is a little heavy and it allows England to get back and block it out for a fateful corner, but look at what happens when Smalling and Jaielka come under fire at the back. Kruse and Goetze are breaking through the middle unmarked, with England's midfield—whose lack of tenacity seemingly started the whole movement—aren't immediately sprinting back.

When Bender first picked it up in midfield, England had nine men behind the ball compared to Germany's five. Now all of a sudden, it's three-on-three.

That's not to say that the entire movement would have been cut out had pressure been applied in the first instance. Germany—along with several other teams in Brazil next year—are good enough to pick apart even the best pressing defenses, but what is clear is that they are able to do so even more effectively when the pressure is non-existent from their opponents.

England had done a good job defending until this point, but their lack of a pressing defense (choosing rather to sit back) allowed them to broken open with ease.

Fortunately, Germany didn't score from the counterattack, but with better players on the end of those passes, the result could well have been very different indeed.

Definitely something for Hodgson to work on prior to the Cup next year.

Townsend is Potent, but Must Become More Flexible

Townsend's rise to notoriety in the England national team has been great to watch, and there's little doubt of the potency that he can provide on the right-wing.

Perhaps even more so than Theo Walcott at times.

However, what's clear is that the Tottenham Hotspur man needs to be far more flexible with his game. He loves to take on defenders, cut inside and shoot (which is exactly what his former team-mate Gareth Bale did last year, and look where that landed him), but he does so without any variety. He runs, cuts and shoots, all the time, and it's starting to lose effectiveness.

According to statistics from Squawka, Townsend has completed more take-ons in the Premier League than any other player at a strong 66 percent completion rate. He's also created 19 goal-scoring chances (a team-high) but look how many of these have come from a central position rather than out wide.  

The disparity between his attempted crosses and take-ons (as well as his completed crosses and take-ons) could not be greater, and it's starting to affect him.

Defenders know that he's going to cut in all the time, so they can afford to defend more centrally. They know that even if they give him the by-line to run to, the vast majority of the time he's going to cut in—making him very predictable to defend.

Now that doesn't mean that he's easy to defend given how effective he is at beating a man one-on-one, but it allows teams to defend against him better than they could if he had multiple aspects in his game. It's the diversity that makes Cristiano Ronaldo as effective as he is rather than his individual talent at cutting in, because the talent can simply only get you so far.

Teams will start to figure out how to beat you otherwise.

Statistics will show that Townsend again had a very good game against Schmelzer, and that his shot from distance (after cutting in) very nearly crept in the net.

But for the most part, Germany knew how to defend against him.

When Townsend picked up the ball in space, they held off him and allowed him to get wide. In this instance, both Bender and Schmelzer are covering the winger—urging him to take them on down the line—and waiting for him to cut in.

They know that's what he wants to do, and therefore most likely going to do.

It's a tactic they daren't try against Walcott (who would happily take them on for pace if given this chance), but it works against Townsend because he's very one-dimensional.

Even when it's clear that his best play is to knock it forward and try and get to the by-line (especially because he won't have to content with Boateng coming across to cover as he has to mark Rooney in the middle), he opts against it.

Had he taken Schmelzer on, he has a two-on-two in the box with two of the most deadly finishers in English football. But instead of giving his attackers a chance, he opts to try and cut in between two defenders and ends up losing the ball.

The Spurs' winger needs to add another element to his game in order to become a nightmare for defenders again. And if he does, he'll certainly succeed.

Townsend has the blistering pace and quick dribbling needed to beat a man one-on-one, but defenders know that it's coming now, which reduces his effectiveness.

They can prepare more effectively for it and, as a result, don't be surprised to see his take-on completion percentage start to drop over unless he starts to hit the by-line more and create uncertainty in the minds of his opponents.

With his lack of versatility, Walcott could well remain the better option for England.

Other Musings and Takeaways:

Steven Gerrard vs. Frank Lampard?

Gerrard was shown up a little against Chile with his lack of positioning and awareness, and played noticeably deeper down the pitch here—which was good to see.

However, his tendency to try and hit a 40-50 yard pass all the time continues to bring England undone; they simply do not have the height in either Rooney or Sturridge to effectively play that game all the time. Lampard's greatest strength in this "regista" role is his ability to play the ball out along the ground between the lines, which is something that Gerrard must learn to do if stationed deeper down the pitch.

Toni Kroos Replacing Sami Khedira?

Without either Sami Khedira (injured) or Bastain Schweinsteiger (rested), Germany's double-pivot took on a whole new look tonight and it was interesting to see how Toni Kroos fared. He wasn't the sharpest of players in terms of his attacking direction, but he did shut down a lot of the space for both Gerrard and Cleverley to run into, and he will no doubt have pleased Low as a result of his performance.

The Bayern Munich man has been a very effective distributor for his club this season, and assuming Bayern's successes continue, could become an interesting option for the Germans to consider utilizing in a central midfield role along Schweinsteiger in Brazil.

Joe Hart's Return to Form

It was fantastic to see the return of Joe Hart with a good performance, and it was fascinating to note how effective the Manchester City man was in reflex situations.

Much like his cross-town opponent in David De Gea, Hart is most effective when he doesn't have time to think about the situation and simply needs to act. His point-blank save on Reus was superb, as was his original saves from Germany's first corner.

There was a moment or two of panic—as has become the norm with Hart—but they came when he needed to think and try and make a measured decision, rather than simply trusting his instincts and acting upon them decisively.

Ashley Cole vs. Leighton Baines = Adam Lallana?

Lallana's willingness to come back and defend perhaps lend himself to starting with Leighton Baines over Ashley Cole. Baines is most likely the starter at this point, but Cole has been very good of late—making it an interesting battle to watch once more—but I'd expect the Everton man to win that job.

The question as to who partners ahead of him on the field is interesting, but Lallana has been good without being spectacular in the two friendlies. With a more free-running, overlapping man outside him in Baines, perhaps he'll be even more effective than he has been—giving Hodgson an interesting selection dilemma to consider for the next few months.

Read more in the "Film Focus" series here.

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