History Repeating Itself as Germany Fix Early Issues Mid-Tournament

At the World Cup, Germany struggled up to the quarter-final. It’s true they beat Portugal 4-0, but that was after the early dismissal of Pepe. Ghana and Algeria both could have beaten them with a kinder run of the ball. But then Jogi Low sorted out his problems at centre-forward and at right-back by restoring the veteran Miroslav Klose to the line-up and pushing Philipp Lahm back to his more orthodox position at full-back. History, it seems, may be repeating itself.

Klose and Lahm both retired after the World Cup, leaving Germany with major problems. They lost twice in qualifying and never looked defensively secure. In recent friendlies they’ve lost to both England and Slovakia. In this tournament, they seemed to be repeating the pattern of a decade under Low: either very good at defending (and unable to score) or very good at attacking (and unable to defend) with little balance in between.

Against Ukraine, both facets were seen within the same game, an immaculately controlled final half-hour helping to erase the memory of the sloppiness of what had gone before. Against Poland, it was all control, a solid shape but very little fluency. But then, as he did in Brazil, Low restored a traditional centre-forward and found a right-back. The change in Germany has been remarkable.

It’s true that Germany only beat Northern Ireland 1-0, but that was a serious pummelling, 28 shots to two. The performance against Slovakia was just as good if not better, a 3-0 win that featured 21 shots to seven. The introduction of Mario Gomez, as the introduction of Klose had at the World Cup, offered a focal point and allowed Thomas Muller to move into a more central role from which his late surges have seemed more dangerous (although it is a curiosity that after 10 goals at the last two World Cups, Thomas Muller is again struggling for goals at a Euros). At right-back, meanwhile, the arrival of Joshua Kimmich, whose appearance against Northern Ireland was only his second international, has been a revelation.

Gomez is not everybody’s idea of a centre-forward. There’s something of the Olivier Giroud about him in that he’s not quite as big or strong as it seems as though he ought to be, and he’s not the most clinical in front of goal. Even in scoring 26 goals in the Turkish Superlig last season, he took over four shots per goal. Here, against Northern Ireland, he got the only goal – although it went in off a defender – but missed the target with another four efforts, and was rather more accurate against Slovakia scoring with one of two efforts on target.

To focus only on his finishing, though, is to miss the point. He is very good at laying the ball off, a board for others to play-off in the rapid rat-a-tat of incisive passes that characterises Germany at their best. When Cesc Fabregas played at centre-forward for Spain, the sense was of him not really as a false nine in that he rarely dropped off, but almost a ground-based target man. Although the comparison is counter-intuitive, Gomez is similar. Across the past two games he was won just four aerial balls but he has played three key passes.

Kimmich, meanwhile, even after three games, seems the answer to Germany’s post-Lahm issues. Against Northern Ireland, he played four key passes. Asked to perform a more defensive role against Slovakia, he made five tackles and an interception. The real test, of course will come against a side that offers more of a challenge to Germany than either Northern Ireland or Slovakia did – and Italy or Spain in the quarter-final will assuredly provide a stiffer examination – but Germany, once again, seem to have found coherence mid-tournament.

Has Jogi Low found the solution to enable Germany to win Euro 2016? Let us know in the comments below