As preparations for a defence of football’s biggest prize go, a five-match winless run is far from ideal. Yet that’s the form Germany are in heading after Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Austria.
Since beating Azerbaijan in their final qualifier for this summer’s World Cup in Russia, Germany have drawn with France, England, and Spain, and lost to Brazil and now Austria. It’s Die Mannschaft’s worst run since 1931, when they went six games without a win.
Manager Joachim Low was understandably upset, saying the world champions failed to execute their plans and had a lot to work on, with one warm-up match against Saudi Arabia left before they kick off their World Cup campaign against Mexico on June 17.
“This defeat annoys me. We didn’t execute many things we had planned,” the 58-year-old said.
“We lost the ball too many times where we could have created a scoring opportunity. Today many things were bad. We won’t fool ourselves. We have a lot to work on over the next two weeks.”
Chief among the concerns is the sudden lack of goals. Germany have gone from scoring 43 in 10 qualifiers to just four in this five-match run. Even accounting for the presence of Azerbaijan and San Marino in their qualifying group, there’s no doubting that the goals have dried up for a team that was scoring for fun.
It’s an alarming dip given that several of Germany’s A-listers have been playing in these fixtures. Forward Nils Petersen was given his debut against Austria, but he had Leroy Sane, Mesut Ozil, Ilkay Gundogan, and Sami Khedira among the players behind him. Thomas Muller, Timo Werner, and Toni Kroos have played in four of these friendlies. This is not a run that can be blamed on squad rotation.
If the issue is players not implementing plans, there is no excuse for that to be the case. Apart from the 0-0 draw against England where the manager experimented with a 3-4-2-1 formation, the players are playing to the same plan they’ve been following for the last four years.
Yet those same players with the same instructions are suddenly looking less sure of themselves. Possession is being squandered far too easily, with the trademark passing game being pockmarked by careless giveaways.
“We lost the ball unbelievably often, there were so many turnovers,” Low lamented on Saturday.
“We are not used to that from our team. We let the Austrians get back in the game.”
There’s a marked lack of efficiency – Germany had seven shots on target and scored only once despite having 65% possession against Austria, who scored twice from four shots on target.
32 - Austria have beaten Germany for the first time in almost 32 years and after 10 games without a win (D1 9L), when they won 4-1 back in October 1986. Eternity. #AUTGER pic.twitter.com/cl42lWsRR5
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) June 2, 2018
It was a similar story against England, and the 1-0 loss to Brazil in March was even more worrying: 58% possession, 13 shots, only one on target.
On the surface, it’s hard to see what Low could change. He has a wealth of attacking players at his disposal, with Ozil, Sane, Muller, Werner, Julian Draxler, Leon Goretzka, and the recovering Marco Reus among them, with the latter two likely to be backups to the others. In Kroos, Gundogan, and Khedira, he has midfielders perfectly suited to the incisive, possession-based game he prefers.
But suddenly, it’s not working. And if Low can’t pinpoint the issues and fix them, this summer’s tournament will be a struggle.
Germany still retain their status as one of the favourites for the World Cup, in no small part due to the fact that they’re the holders. On current form, however, if they face Spain, Brazil, or France in the tournament, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they lost.
